Howls of Devastation
by Ravlia
Summary: This story revolves around a girl named Ravei. Her life is turned upside down when the Green Flu hits home. She meets up with survivors then is left to fend for herself. Yet she gets unexpected help from the thing that she has been fighting. HunterXOC ON HIATUS!
1. Chapter 1 Frightening Realization

Chapter 1 Frightening Realization

The infection was spreading quickly. The whole town by now had known of the disease and did everything in their power to prevent it to the best of their abilities. Many small businesses had started putting steel reenforced doors on back rooms for safety. Yet most people believed that the infection was a flue like any other that had occurred over the past few years. Yet the Swine Flu or Bird Flu did not compare to this new virus. The Green Flu was a whole new virus, it spread so quickly that no one saw it coming. I guess that's why I didn't see it hit home.

It was a normal mid summer day when I was sitting at my house with my friends, all male of course, playing the new Halo game that they brought with them. The oldest male was named Drake, since he loved dragons. He was around 17, tall, buff and a little messed up in the head from many different girls playing with his emotions. His eyes, hair and skin were dark in color, but he was Caucasian. The same was with the second of my male companions. We called him Teagon. He was around 16 and always had his dark hair hanging in his face, and was about my height. The last of the boys was larger than the other three of us. His name was Brion and he was 16 as well. He had dark hair and green eyes, but the most he did was sit around and play games and do illegal drugs.

I on the other hand was the oldest, at 19. Yes, I still lived at home with my parents, but that was only because I could not find a job in these hard times. With the economy at a low end and this new virus spreading so rapidly that it put some low corporate businesses out of work for weeks. Yet the boys still loved me and it made me smile. That's why they were there. My parents were gone for a week or so and I didn't want to be alone in the house.

Yet, I felt something amiss today. I felt it the whole time we were playing that game. I kept myself on edge as I looked at the boys, taking a sip from my cup of water before taking a pouch of smokeless tobacco and putting it in the back of my mouth by my lower jaw. I smiled though as Drake made an assassin kill on his opponent at the moment, that being Teagon. "Oh god damn it!" I heard the younger boy call out, frustrated.

"Ha ha! One more kill for me and you're done!" Drake laughed. Brion though was just sitting there, watching the screen mindlessly. He looked kind of pale, but his skin was normally tanned, even through the winter months. I knew he wasn't on any sort of drugs, I wouldn't allow him to be since he had a sore throat.

"Hey, Ravei, watch this!" I heard Teagon call as he snook his player up on Drake's and bash him with the melee weapon, killing him immediately. "Ha! Got you back!" He laughed and Drake only scowled at him, since he was only one kill away from killing his opponent.

I kept my eyes on Brion though, he seemed to be acting differently than normal and it had me somewhat concerned. They considered me to be the 'healer' of the group, since I always patched them up when they got hurt, even if the wound was older. That is why it startled me so badly with how sickly my friend looked. It hurt me inside that I knew I didn't know what kind of medicine or anything I could give him. I had no way to get to the store, and the closest one was about 2 miles away on foot, and it was only a gas station.

Just then, Brion got up looking more sick than ever as he ran out into the kitchen. I heard the horrible sound of bile being spit into the metal sink. I ran out and looked at the hunched over form of my companion, and gently rested my hand on his back to try and comfort him. He looked paler than ever and I faltered as Drake came up behind me. He noticed the bile before I did. "Ravei... You may want to look at that." He pointed over to the sink.

I looked then and gazed in horror. The bile in the sink was nothing but blood, and it wasn't just the fresh crimson blood, it looked some what like it had chunks of flesh in it, flesh from his insides. Backing away with a gasp, I had to hold back my own bile. I moved myself back into the living room and sat down in the chair in front of the desk top computer. This couldn't be happening. I had a friend of mine that I've known for years throwing up blood into my kitchen sink! Mom wasn't going to like that one bit.

Yet that was the least of my worries. Drake came around the corner and looked at me with a desperate gaze. "He's dead..." I gazed over my shoulder at him, my dark hair covering one of my eyes as I stared in shock and horror, as did Teagon who came up beside me. I cupped my hands over my mouth as I felt myself about to vomit once more, moving myself to face the desk and rest my head upon it to calm myself down.

This wasn't happening...

It couldn't be happening...

Not like this...

Not in my home...

It was then that I was pulled from my thoughts as a scream rung out and gurgling ensued from the kitchen. Teagon was the first to see what had happened. Brion had leaped back to life and attacked Drake. His skin was now deathly pale, almost gray, his eyes were sightless orbs of rage and hunger. It frightened me to the very core as I watched as one friend slaughtered the other.

"What the hell is going on? Brion come to your senses!" Teagon tried to reason, but it had no effect on Brion. He looked at Teagon with a murderous rage in his blank gaze. Blood dripped from his mouth and hands, he looked ready to pounce on his friend that very moment. Which he did with no hesitation, except to lick some of the fresh blood off of his lip.

What kind of hell was this that suddenly befell me?

Brion latched his hands on Teagon with ease as he bit down hard into the other boy's shoulder, ripping and tearing flesh and cloth in his teeth. That's when I'd had enough, had enough of the fighting, had enough of the blood in my home. I drew out the katana that I had gotten for free from a friend a long while back. The rusted blade seemed to refuse to come out of the scabbard, though, and my friend's scream of pain seemed to drone out as more chunks of flesh were taken out of his shoulder by the monster Brion had become.

Every sound seemed to drown out as the blade was finally taken from the scabbard. My heart beat was all I heard in my head as I brought the weapon down on my once friend, slicing off his arm. He screamed in pain and staggered backwards, letting his vice like grip on Teagon go. Blood had splattered over onto my face from the wound, and I felt more alive than I ever have. I was afraid, and yet I was glad. Brion fell to his knees and gaped at the wound for a second before looking back up at me, hate plastered on his face, murder scowling at me from his dead eyes, and anger radiating off of him like a furnace.

Before he got the chance to lunge at me though, I took off his head. The head rolled and stood still at the edge of the living room door while the body fell to the floor, more blood splattering over the floor and near by objects, including myself. My heart was beating so rapidly as I looked down from Teagon, to Drake, to Brion and back again. I was surprised that out of all three that Drake was the least injured, having been the first victim.

I walked over to him and lifted him up to rest on my knee as he spoke to me. "Kill me now." His voice was quiet and I gazed at him in shock before he continued. "Please, Ravie, kill me. It's the only way to stop this thing from spreading. It is that virus... That new thing the government came out with to control us all..." He coughed up some blood and it dribbled slowly down his chin. I knew what I had to do and I didn't like it one bit. I laid him back down onto the linoleum floor and had tears in my eyes as I sliced down with my blade. His head also rolled away from his body as he let out one final breath. I then did the same with Teagon as I started to see his skin change color.

I couldn't believe this was happening.

All of my good friends were laying in my house dead.

I couldn't stand the sight of it.

I grabbed my katana's scabbard and ran. I ran from the house, from the memories of murdering my best friends. Tears of salty sorrow streamed down my face as I dashed away. I found myself in the woods then and just broke down in horrid sobs and coughs. I vomited for I don't know how long on the forest floor. My eyes had to be red and puffy by the time I was done. I moved away from the bile and rested up against a tree, curling into a ball. The hurt cut more deeply than the blade I wielded against my friends.


	2. Chapter 2 Weeks Gone by

Chapter 2 Weeks Gone By.

It was night time before I had decided to make my way back to my house. The smell of decay and death hung in the air as I entered. I only came back to get what I needed to. I went into my parents bedroom and grabbed my dad's old military back pack, just because it was through a lot and would come in handy as a momento. I then used the sheathed katana to break into his gun cabinet, clearing away as much of the glass that I could. I had never handled a gun in my life so I just took out his shot gun and slung it over my back, also grabbing a pack of bullets from the bottom storage cabinet.

Then I ran to my room and grabbed some things that I thought I would need. My iPod, deodorant, a small blanket, my smokeless tobacco, and my healing ointments and bandages. I was going to leave my house forever, yet I also grabbed my keys. I didn't have a drivers license, but I had a spare key to our 1995 Geo Metro. Yet before I left, I wrote my parents a note, just in case they would return to the house.

_Mom, Dad,_

_ I'm sorry that I left and stole the car, but I needed to get away from the carnage I had caused. I love you both and will miss you dearly. I'm also sorry that I took you both for granted._

_ Love always and forever,_

_ Ravei._

It pained me deeply to write that letter, tears were streaming down my eyes as I did. I once again grabbed up my katana and supplies, putting the ear buds of the iPod into my ears and turning it on. The song blasted into my ears and I recognized it as "The Howling" by Within Temptation. God it felt so familiar at that moment that the song seemed to fit with what I was doing.

I locked the door as I left the house, hurriedly going to the garage and getting into the car. I put the keys in the ignition and started it up. My eyes were still blurry from tears but I quickly wiped them away and backed out of the drive way. The whole sky was dark gray, like it was about to rain. I drove into the next town, since it was bigger than the little one that I had departed from. I had to find a way out of this nightmare.

The town that I was going to was about 10 miles away, yet close enough that I would hardly use any gas. Yet when I got there, the town was in about as bad as shape as my own. I dodged around parked cars until I came up to a clear spot in the street. I turned the car off and left the keys in the ignition as I got out and looked around. The town was decaying before my very eyes.

Slamming the door closed I went to the back of the car and got my stuff out, throwing the gun and the back pack over my shoulder to latch it on securely and then attached the katana to my belt. Drawing the sword from the sheath, I made my way forward. I roamed and sliced at the decaying creatures before me, I was on a mission now. I had to get rid of the things and try to find anyone that was left alone just like me. Left for dead.

That was when I saw them, firing their guns at a mass of incoming infected. There were four of them all together, a girl and three boys from what I could tell. I caught a glimpse of some of the infected circling around behind them so I dashed forward. I took out some of the menacing creatures and the people gave me a stare but nodded and let me fight with them. It wasn't long before we had the mass of dead back to their corpse states, the way corpse were supposed to be, unmoving.

The girl had long brown hair that came past her shoulders and glowing green eyes. She wore just a sweat shirt from the local high school and a pair of blue jeans with tennis shoes. One of the males was tall, taller than the rest of us and shaved bald. He wore a police uniform so my guess was he kind of knew what he was doing since he was an officer. The next male was kind of scrawny, though you could tell he had muscle. He had a small blonde mohawk and eyes of deepest blue, and wore a dark blue trench coat. The last one was a darker skinned man, with dark, matted hair, though I knew it was dreadlocks. He wore a green, red, and yellow hoodie and a pair of tan shorts.

They all smiled at me and gave me their thanks as I looked them all over. They did the same to me before the balding man spoke to us. "Look we've all got to get somewhere safe." He seemed out of breath as he spoke. So we ran and found a building across the street that had a sign on it of a house with bars for windows and an arrow pointing into the building. We all dashed in and found the steel reinforced door, locking it behind us. We were glad that we hadn't run into any more 'zombies.'

That was when we all introduced ourselves to one another. "My name is Veronica." The brown haired girl had spoken. I already knew her though, I had gone to school with her. "I'm 18 and just graduated from the high school this year." She bit her lip as she thought of more to say but then shook her head.

"Names James." The mohawk guy spoke. "I'm 22 and was in the army reserves for a few years before... well this." Everyone knew what he spoke of before he even had to say anything. "Part time I worked for a store in the near by mall." That's where I had known him from. It was one of my favorite stores.

"My names Rutherford." The bald guy spoke up. His voice was gruff, just like any officer's should be in my mind. "I'm 37 and worked at the local precinct before this stuff happened, I also visited schools to teach kids not to do drugs." He was probably the officer that came to the high school to do those stupid D.A.R.E. things that I despised.

"I'm Tomas." The last guy spoke with a Jamaican accent. "I am 26 and worked at the burger joint down the road. I came to this country a few years back and did not expect any of this to happen." Then again neither had the rest of us.

They looked at each other in turn and then looked to me as I took a deep breath. "My name is Ravei." I said in a small voice, pulling the ear buds out of my ears, though I could hear as they spoke. "I'm 19, I just came to this town to find salvation from what I had just done in my own home town." I lowered my head as they glanced at me with questioning looks, yet I said nothing. They gave me my peace, evidently seeing the dried blood on my clothes that wasn't from the creatures we fought off earlier.

I smiled then and spoke softly, "If you have any minor wounds though I can dress them, I have first aid supplies with me." I pointed to the back pack that I still had attached to my back. They all smiled at me then.

It was two weeks ago that I met those people and now we were basically family. We moved from safe house to safe house in a group. We helped one another, loved one another, kept each other safe and watched the others backs when one had to reload their weapon. We found various safe houses with ammo and food, as well as many other things that we needed to survive this apocalypse.

The thing that bound us together more I think was that we had all told our stories in that first week. I told them about my friends and how I murdered them to save them from changing after Brion had bitten them.

Veronica had done almost the same, yet her big brother had saved her since he was visiting from college. Their dad had come home one night with a horrendous bite mark on his arm, that their mother had fretted over. They watched him die and come back like I had seen my friend do. Her brother killed their father and mother and then took his own life. The girl knew she had to survive though and find a way out of this place. She had been studying on being an accountant before hand, but it was amazing that she knew how to use a gun the first time she picked one up.

James had just gotten off of military leave and home to his girl friend. She had seemed to be perfectly fine until she went to kiss him and vomited all over him. He said that she felt herself a threat to him and took her own life, and the life of their unborn child. I had felt very sorry to the man afterward, and we all wished that none of this had taken place.

Rutherford on the other hand was still a bachelor, and on patrol with his partner when he turned. His partner had not had his safety belt fastened, and when the other man had lashed out to bite him, he swerved and pushed the man away from him, crashing into a light pole. The man had flown from the window and impacted with the apartment building that they were passing by. He had stared at the man as he got up and started rushing back toward the car, blood coming out of his mouth. Rutherford had no other choice but to kill his partner.

Tomas was working when all of this had started. He was making his customer a burger when one of his fellow employees attacked him. He scrambled away from the man at a break neck pace before it caught up to him and threatened his life. He used the greasy grill to his advantage and grabbed the man by the neck, sending his head into the sizzling top of the grill, making him scream out in pain before dying. The manager closed down the store the next day.

I told them my story then and they all listened intently. I told them of my friends and how we were just doing what we were normally doing when all of this occurred. I told them of how I slaughtered my own friends, my kin, and they all looked down at their own feet. I told them of my get away then and shook my head. I didn't need their sympathy.

We were on the route to the next safe house the following week. We had to have killed over 100 of the infected people by now and it was starting to get tiresome. Yet I felt at the peak of my health as I spit on one of the corpse by my feet, I was laughing. They all looked at me like I was crazy, though maybe that's what was happening to me. Maybe I was starting to go insane over the past two weeks. It was obvious that Rutherford was the leader of our little group, being the oldest and most experienced in this kind of shoot and go situation, though James took up about the same amount of responsibility that he did. Ruth (Rough) as we called him, was like the father figure.

That was when we saw the ammunition store. We were all running low, especially me since the shot gun I took of my father's was only able to hold around 8 shells at once. "Guys, get to the store, I'll take up the rear!" James called from behind us. He always seemed to take up the rear as Ruth led us forward. It seemed like an easy task right? Get into the ammo store and get restocked on what we needed for our weapons. It was all but that.

We heard coughing, and I was the first one to look up at the roof of the closest building, which the creature stood with all its glory in the shadows. Green smoke was wafting off of it and into the air as it coughed, its long tongue dangling down to its chest. It shot its tongue out at us and used it to snare one of us. "Smoker!" I yelled. I had saw the term on one of the safe house walls, as well as many others that described these types of infected.

The tongue danced between me and Veronica before deciding to snatch up the prettier girl. She let out a choked scream as she dropped her weapon, the creature drawing her to it. I aimed my gun, the other three of our companions seeming busy in their own battle. I crouched down and shot at the creature, aiming carefully since Ruth and James taught me how to shoot and aim. The tongue seemed to constrict tighter until the bullet made contact with the special creature and shattered its skull, sending brains, bone and blood splattering the ground as it fell.

Veronica dropped, the tongue of the creature finally releasing her as it died. She landed on her feet before falling to her knees and clutching her throat as she gasped for breath. I picked up her gun and dashed over to her, slinging the shot gun around to rest on my back. I rested my hand on her back as she coughed a few times before looking up at me and smiling. "Thanks Ravei." She said as I handed her the gun and helped her up to her feet.

"Not a problem Ve." I winked and took out my katana, quickly slashing at some of the infected that had started to come after us. We then made our way back to our group to help them out. I sliced as many of the infected as I could, Veronica helped me and shot the ones that I incapacitated. We were almost there, mere feet from the shop when we heard the crying.

We had heard the crying before but had skirted around the female infected with ease. Yet something told me that this one was not going to be so easy. Ruth opened the door to the shop and led us in. Thankfully there seemed to be a safe room in this store. Yet we held our ground as the sobs got louder. Looking around as James and Tomas stumbled past me and Veronica to look around the front of the store for something to block the door from our enemies outside.

"Don't make a move." Ruth spoke as he looked around in the dim lighting that faded through the boarded windows. The rest of us froze as the sobbing continued, the man looking around for the source of the cry. That was when Tomas pointed to the corner of the store, right by the safe room door. The witch was sitting right there, cradling her hands in her lap as she sat there and sobbed. She had her back turned toward us as she wept. It sent chills through all of us at finally meeting up with one this close to safety, this close to salvation for at least a night.

"Damn it!" I heard James scoff as he paced slightly in his spot, running a hand through his mohawk and gripping the back of his hair in anger. I could feel the tension thick in the room, so thick that you could slice through it with a butter knife. Yet it didn't seem to be the only thing we heard, there was also a shriek in the safe room, a feral sound that almost sounded like a howl. We then heard claws scraping at the wall in the safe room.

"Oh god there's a hunter in here too! Of all the damn luck!" Tomas hissed through his teeth. Ruth then called me over to him, and I went to obey him, being as quiet as I could.

"Ravei, I know that you probably don't want to do this, but you remember that one wall in the last safe house that we read?" He spoke to me quietly, and I nodded, though I did not know what part of it he was referring to. "You're the only one quiet enough and with a shot gun." He nodded to the weapon on my back and then I finally knew what he was talking about. "I want you to try and crown her."

"What if it doesn't work Ruth?" Veronica voiced the words for me as she looked up at the man with her eyes glowing in the shaft of light that seemed to rest right on them.

"If it doesn't work, well... We'll have to back her up." Ruth looked at me, it seemed like this whole situation rested on me and me only. "One clean shot to the head, be as quick as you can. Then we'll need you to open the door. You'll most likely alert the thing behind it though..." His gaze lingered off as he looked at the door. We all knew from the shrieking howl that came from behind it that it was a hunter.

I sighed and took the military back pack off of my back, along with the shot gun. I sheathed the katana that I left rest in my left hand. Tomas smiled as he rested a hand on my shoulder, I knew what he was saying, 'be careful, we're counting on you.' I smiled back at him, though I did not want to do this. I was scared out of my mind. What if I slipped up and put them in danger?

I couldn't let that happen...

I wouldn't let that happen...

I built up my courage and carefully tread my way over to the witch, being as quiet as I humanly could. I had my shot gun held in front of me, knowing that I still, thankfully, had shells in it. I aimed as carefully as I could, resting one of my feet out toward her and the other to the side, touching the safe house door. The witch started to stand up and look at me, tears streaming down from her red eyes. I aimed at her head but was surprised.

The safe room door had opened at the touch of my foot.


	3. Chapter 3 Surprises

Author's log- Hey guys! Sorry to leave such a cliff hanger on the 2nd chapter! It was so much fun writing it though! And since I'm so hyper right now... I'm bringing out the third chapter! Huzzah! XD Hope you all enjoy this one as much as I did writing it! 3

Chapter 3 Surprises

I froze. There was nothing more I could do. I heard at least three shrieks when the door opened. One was from the witch at whom I startled. The second was from the hunter that was finally free from the confines of the safe room. The third one was feminine, it sounded scared. That was when it struck me, it was me that had screamed.

My trigger finger pulled back in shock as I fired the shot gun, clipping the witch in the leg and making her more angry than she already was. She kept screaming as I started to back away from her, but was soon stopped as a low growl came from my side, where the safe room was. The hunter was crouched there, in the door way ready to pounce. It was the worst kind of situation to be in at that moment.

The witch then slashed at me as she screamed again, louder and angrier this time. I barely backed away before I felt myself get tackled to the side by the hunter. He landed on me so heavily that my breath caught in my throat before I let it slip out of me. He was on my abdomen and his claws were ready to tear into me at any moment before gun shots rung out and he hissed horribly. His claws did get me, and I felt the red hot pain shoot through me as he tore through the clothing and flesh on my chest, leaving four nasty scratches.

"Get the hell off of me!" I screamed at the hunter when I got my breath back, flailing my arms at him with such force that I knew I didn't have to spare. Its sad to say though that my survival instincts were kicking in when the first scratch hit. He had slashed at my arms to move them away, but to not much avail.

It didn't end there though, the witch had to join in. Though the hunter was between us. "Move!" I groaned at the hunter. I felt him stop for a second contemplating. Did hunter's or any other infected contemplate? The witch then clawed at the hunter with her longer, more deadly claws, sending him off of me. He growled and hissed in pain at her before leaping up through a hole that was in the ceiling. One of the enemies was gone, yet the other remained, ready to tear me to shreds. Yet the pain didn't come.

I opened my teary, pained eyes and looked up at Ruth standing over me, protectively, as he had shoved the witch away. He was then letting bullets fly from his magnum and straight into her flesh. She screamed in pain and seemed to forget about me as she started to slash at him. He dove out of the way just in time though and she missed him. She would start chasing him around then.

The other two men in my group started to unload the last of their gun's clips into the witch and soon she fell. Veronica was the first to come over to me as she saw my hurt. She saw the blood on my chest and gasped. "Guys she's hurt!" She squealed, her voice very high pitched with worry and concern and maybe even fright. James then dashed over to my side, inspecting the wound.

"We have to get her into the safe house before anything comes looking for us and patch her up." Ruth spoke breathlessly. The pain kept searing through my chest and arms and I cried out in pain as I got lifted up by strong arms. I felt tears starting to form in my eyes from the immense pain that I was going through.

I heard the latch of the door before I opened my eyes again to look up at the face of the man that carried me. James had me in his strong grasp and I smiled weakly up at him. He gave me a sad smile in return as I felt myself be lain onto something soft. It was probably one of the many sleeping bags that people stored in safe rooms for survivors to rest in. I coughed though, almost feeling like I was going to vomit.

"Was she bitten?" I heard the Jamaican accent as Tomas spoke. My handler shook his head as he looked back at the others.

"She needs ointment and bandages quick. We have to patch up these wounds while their still fresh. If worse comes to worse..." I heard the last whispered part as everyone else did when James spoke.

"She won't turn!" I heard Veronica's alto voice blurt out as she came over to my side and held onto one of my hands. I flinched as she did, feeling one of the bleeding scratches from it. I also gave her a weak smile. In school we really weren't the closest of people, belonged to two different social groups, but now it seemed like we were family, sisters.

"I'll be fine, Ve." I spoke weakly and coughed again. My throat felt very dry, my guess though was that it was trauma. "If worse does come to worse though, I want you all to go on without me. I'll catch up when I'm finished healing. I don't want to slow you all down." I coughed again and laid my head to the side.

The next thing I knew was that someone was digging through my bag, pulling out ointment and gauze. Ruth came into my view and motioned for Veronica and James to move away from me. "You three keep watch for now, there are two doors in here and make sure nothing is outside of them." I felt the mental nod as the larger man sat me up, leaning me against the wall. He ripped the rest of my shirt off of me and then looked at me. "Hopefully you're not uncomfortable with this." He spoke softly, his voice less gruff than normal.

I shook my head as I felt him undo my bra. I knew that he was only going to patch my wounds. "Hell its not a damn thing you haven't seen before." My head nodded downward to indicate my exposed chest, and I smiled weakly at him, jokingly. He only laughed and began to patch me up the best he could. He had a bottle of water by him and was cleaning my wounds diligently with some gauze before wrapping them up with the same material.

The wound on my chest must have been the worst, because I felt more blood seeping through as soon as he was done patching it. He then fixed up my wounds with the rest of the supplies he had gotten out, putting what little he had back into my bag. "Veronica, see if we can find a loose shirt in here that's around her size." He spoke softly and the girl nodded, digging around some of the supply boxes that were left behind.

Eventually a shirt had been found and I felt it get pulled over my head. I felt extremely weak in those few moments, weaker than I had ever felt before. The throbbing of my wounds were constant after that, but I was glad that I was at least patched up. Ruth then held the rest of the water bottle up to my mouth and I slowly drank from it. That little bit of moisture made me feel better but I was exhausted. Darkness slowly over came me and I slept.

_I opened my eyes and saw a small door at the end of my vision, a hallway I suspected I was in. I dashed toward the door and opened it, feeling like it was my salvation. The door itself opened up into nothingness. It scared me deeply. What was this place? I looked behind me and I saw the same darkness that I had come from. I felt it was going to catch up to me and then I let my legs guide me through the door. It closed behind me._

_ I was in the woods after it closed and gazed around at the place. These were my woods. I wandered around for a while before I finally found my companions. Teagon, Drake and Brion were sitting around across the stream and I was on the other side. They waved at me as they all looked up and saw me. I waved back cheerfully until I saw their eyes._

_ They had no eyes._

_ Their eyes were nothing more than sockets, black empty spaces. Normally their eyes gave me such strength, such hope, such determination. Now they only gave me fear. I backed away as quickly as I could, lowering my hand to my side. I felt for the katana but it wasn't there. _

_ How could it not be there?_

_ I always had it with me, but where was it now?_

_ These thoughts clouded my head as my three friends stood. They loomed toward me and I backed away. I didn't want these people to touch me. I didn't even want them to look at me. They weren't my friends anymore though. I came to realize that. They were monsters._

_ Their skin was deathly gray and their teeth sharp and deadly. The nightmare world that I had come to know and survive in was now invading my dreams! The forest suddenly seemed dead and void of leaves, not to mention on fire. The heat seemed to close me in and choke me as the three of them got closer to me. I turned and tried to run, but found myself face to face with a person, looming over me._

_I smelled decay and death on them. _

_ When I looked up I saw the evil smirk of a hunter, at its full height and not on all fours, ready to pounce. It sliced at me and pushed me back toward the ones that wanted me dead. It hissed and growled lowly at me, as if scolding me for running into it. It pointed at the other three things behind me though. It wasn't scolding me for running into it, it was scolding me for running away._

_ I looked up at it in disbelief. It only kept that same smirk as it took a leap at me._

I woke up screaming. Sweat was running down my face. I sat up quickly but soon regretted it and laid back down. My eyes were closed, but something felt different. The room felt empty. I sat up once again and opened my eyes, looking around in confusion. My team was not there. My family was gone.

I kept glancing around until I found some new writing on the wall that looked like it was fresh, I could smell the paint. I slowly got up and walked over to the table that was under the writing, leaning against it for support for my weak legs. I knew I was crying as I read it.

_Ravei,_

_ We waited for three days for you to wake up. You only stirred once or twice, I don't think you remember them, but we decided to go on ahead. We left some supplies for you, enough for you to last there for long enough to heal. Hopefully you'll catch up to us soon!_

_ Veronica._

They left me. They left me alone in a safe house by myself with no very good reason to leave! I mean I know how much they wanted to get out of there, about as much as I did. And after what I just went through to save them? Maybe I shouldn't have told them to go ahead without me when I was still awake and able to speak. It hurt so badly to know that I was alone once again. I sobbed so hard as I fell to the floor, my knees buckling under me.

I felt as alone as I did when I was in elementary school. I always cried back then too, but not this hard. I had lost my previous friends by my own hand, I had no idea what happened to my parents and now this! What else could... I shouldn't be thinking that. No because from what I've learned, whatever can go wrong will if you speak that one phrase. I was so ready to scream it at that point.

I looked around the room once again, knowing that my eyes were red and puffy by that time. I saw my katana, shot gun and bag by the door on the opposite end of the room from me and crawled my way over to it. I was so damn weak at that point that I hated myself. Hated everything. I ripped into the bag to see what they had left in it. Most of my medical supplies were gone. They took my good ointments and a lot of my gauze, as well as a roll of my medical tape. I growled in anger and rustled through the bag some more, finding a change of clothes and my blanket.

My blanket was still in the bag and it kind of shocked me. I pulled out the soft thing and looked at it. It had a wolf on it that looked like it was howling. It was a soft blue color in the background around the white wolf. It made me actually smile. I loved this blanket. It reminded me of home before all of this. Before the hurt and before the nightmare that was going on outside of the safe room.

I remembered what was going on outside of the safe room though. It was hellish, yes but that little bit of comfort made me smile. I hugged the blanket as I tried to stand once again, noticing the bandages on my arms. They were slightly dark, like I had been wearing them for a while. I wondered exactly how much time had gone by when I was sleeping. It was then though, that I heard the scratching at the safe room door.

Another A/N- Haha another cliff hanger XD I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please don't hesitate to review it! =D I'm going to start work and the 4th part now =P


	4. Chapter 4 Another Life Change? Really?

Chapter 4 Another Life Change? Really?

I listened to the scratching on the door intently. It sounded like a dog or cat trying to get into the room. I was debating intently on if I wanted to open the door or not. I lifted myself up and gazed shakily out of the small window that was on the door, but saw only blackness. It must have been night time or something. I knew my companions had liked to travel in the day time, but they would probably be settled down for the night by now.

I heard the scratching again. Though I listened harder. It wasn't coming from the red steel door in front of me. It was coming from the other door in the room. The door that was wooden. I grabbed up the katana and slowly walked over to the door, opening it with just as much caution. My curiosity was starting to get the best of me. I looked around and then reached into the door, letting my hand find a light switch. I hoped it worked, I watched the light that I saw reflecting light from the other room before it flicker to life when I flicked the switch.

There were two more doors in the tiny storage room and it surprised me greatly. Surprised me so much so that the others had not found it while they were here. I went to the door on the left first, checking into it. There was a small bed in there, as well as another door, so I checked it as well and it turned out to be a bathroom, with a toilet and a bath tub. It made me cheerful for once in a great while, I may be able to bathe.

The scratching continued though. I closed the door to the other room and went to check the other door. This one was blocked by some boxes though and I sighed. I was already a little fatigued and this search for the scratching wasn't helping it. I slowly creaked this door open and inside was the source of the scratching. It made me jump back in fright as I saw what I was least expecting to find.

A hunter.

The hunter growled at me viciously as it saw me and started to back up into the corner of the small closet. I watched it carefully, drawing my sword from the sheath and holding it in front of me. We stared each other down for what seemed like hours as he growled at me. I couldn't see his upper face but his lips were pulled back in the most ferocious snarl I had seen so far. That was how I seemed to recognize it.

It was the hunter that had leaped at me those days earlier. I growled at it then and it seemed to freeze even more. That was when I saw the blood it had smeared around its face and its claws. It was crouched down as if it was ready to leap on me. I held my ground though as it started to stalk out toward me. It seemed to circle me intently before it was almost right in front of me. It looked at my blade and growled, even hissed at me.

"What do you want to kill me?" I spoke to it as it kept its fierce snarl on its lips. It kind of tilted its head to the side, like a dog would do in confusion. "You gonna try and eat me?" I taunted it and it only growled louder. It started to circle to the left, so I turned my body that way. Then it did the same thing as it saw my movement, only to the right this time. I moved in response.

The creature before me growled in what seemed to be agitation. It was getting annoyed with me following its every move. That was when I smirked. I dashed at it almost instantly. It growled deeply as it raised up its claws to block my sword. It did that effectively and it sounded like metal grating on metal as it held the sword, pushing against my sudden burst of strength. I kept my smirk but soon lost it.

The hunter had started to stand.

It pushed back on my blade with its claws as it started to use its legs to push me back. I pushed myself to keep the blade against its claws the best I could, until it pushed against my blade so hard that it pushed me back into the wall, coming with me. The blade was still in my grip through, and I didn't stop fighting to hold it off. I had both hands on the hilt of the sword now as I was pushing against it. Yet it didn't help one bit. I knew that the hunter was stronger than me, not only that he was taller than me. He towered over me while standing, and I was in a feeble position with my back against the wall.

He had me trapped. Had me in a position that I did not like one bit. I smelled death and decay all over the creature before me. The blood on his lips was caked on heavily and dried, as it was on his claws when I looked at them. They looked deadly. They looked hungry to rip at the flesh that I was defending. "Did you come to finish the job you started with me?" I tilted my head at him as I spoke and he only seemed to growl at me.

The hunter tilted his head to the side and it gave me my opportunity to push him back as I had confused him. He hissed and once more gained his grip as he pushed me back into the wall harder this time. I gasped in pain as I almost released my grip on the katana. That was when I felt it. The break in the hilt of my katana. The sword started to drip and the hunter released his grip on the blade as it fell off to my left side.

This is not happening I spoke as the hunter grinned evilly down at me. I heard him make a guttural sound at me that sounded like... laughter? Was he laughing at me? It just made me angry. "What the hell is so funny?" I snarled at him and he just seemed to make the guttural sound harder.

This hunter was really starting to get on my nerves now. I growled and pushed my way off of the wall and around him as he hunched down onto all fours again, ready to pounce. "Oh hush yourself!" I growled at him and he seemed to wince back away from me. "You're as fucking scary as a god damn puppy!" I turned on him then and narrowed my eyes at him. "Go back into the damn hole you crawled out of when you spawned!" I think my gamer dialog was starting to get to me.

He whined at my loud voice. Evidently I hurt his ears, for my yelling/angry voice tended to be a little more high pitched than it normally was. He seemed to whine again when I walked out of the room and back into the bigger safe room area. I roused through some of the boxes and found a can of tuna, along with a bent fork and sighed. I really didn't realize how hungry I was until then. I downed the can almost instantly, almost enough to make me feel sick.

I saw the hunter then staring up at me, whining again. I shook my head at him. "What is it that you want from me?" I rested my hand on my hip as I looked down at him. He leaned up slowly and sniffed at the can of food that I had devoured. He pointed at it then back at himself. "You want some of this? Can't you just go out and hunt your own meals? I mean, you do ever other time don't you? Kill warm bloods like me?" He seemed to scowl at the thought and then shook his head, pointing to the can once again.

"What ever." I spoke as I got out another can and opened it, handing it to him. He looked at me before snatching it from my grasp and devouring the contents to the best of his ability. I watched the hunter as he ravenously ate the food and searched the box once more, this time for something to drink. I finally found a bottle of water and chugged almost all of it down in one gulp. The hunter kept an eye on me most of the time he was eating though. I could feel the tension between the two of us though. I walked around him and looked back at the message my 'friends' had left me.

It was burned into my mind by the time that I was done staring at it. I kicked the table that had sat under it, making the hunter that had come up beside me leap back and hiss viciously. I looked down at him with a scowl. "Oh shut up." I grumbled and looked away from him, making my way over to the sleeping bags once more. I sat down on the one I had been sleeping on and gazed over at the still growling hunter. "Didn't you come back to like, eat me or something?" My eyes were narrowed lazily at him.

He only gave me a curious glance. I must have thought I sounded stupid. I was sitting in a safe house talking to a hunter. One of the things that wanted me dead, wanted to devour me. Yet here I sat, talking to it like it was human. "God I must be going crazy." I spoke softly as I rubbed my eyes with my palms. I felt like I was going crazy at least. He kept his gaze on me though.

"You see this?" I spoke as I pulled my shirt down by the collar. I showed him the deep gash he had given me the first night I had encountered him. "Didn't you come back to finish the job you started?" He just tilted his head again and I groaned. "God you're stupid!" I laid back on the sleeping bag then and just looked up at the ceiling.

I saw a shadow creep into my line of vision though as the hunter stared down at me. "God damn it..." I mumbled and batted him away, but he stayed where he was. I then felt a weight on my chest and a tiny prickle. I looked down and the hunter's hand was on my wound. "What?" I almost screamed at him and sat up. His hand stayed put though as he made a soft, almost purr like sound. "Are you apologizing for this?" With that he made another small gurgle. It was then that I had noticed how gray his skin was compared to mine. Yet it still had the light tone of flesh color.

I looked up into his shadowed face, trying to see past the shadow to his eyes, yet to no avail. I sighed in quiet defeat. Evidently the hunter was staying, and I wasn't going anywhere at that moment either. "Do whatever you damn well please, but I'm not leaving." I rolled to my side then, away from the hunter, dozing once more into a deep sleep, this time thankfully it would be dreamless.

The hunter looked down at the strange girl that was invading his home, his territory. He didn't like it but apparently she wasn't leaving any time soon. He growled to himself and paced around on all fours, taking glances at her sleeping form. Oh how it would be so easy to kill her right then and there! She was defenseless after he had broken her sword, and the boom stick was on the other side of the room, farthest from her.

He did feel kind of bad for breaking her weapon though, which shocked him completely. The whole evening had shocked him. It shocked him from the first moment that she fought back against him, and when she had told him to move and let the she creature attack. What was this human thinking? He had no idea. She did many things that confused him. She attacked him, then fed him? Defended against him and told him to get out of the she creatures way? What was this human and why had she stirred up things that he had thought he lost with his humanity?

She had brought a sense of humanity back to him.

It frightened him greatly and he knew not of what to do. He was angry, confused and hurt. He remembered the pain that her pack had had caused him by shooting the metal things into him from their boom sticks, and even the attack of the she creature that tore up his back. Yet he would not let her see this, see that he was weaker. He was still stronger than this human girl. He had proved that in the other room, and yet she was still here? Sleeping in his den as content as a well fed pup?

He growled in frustration and many other things that seemed to be angry. He drug himself into the other room and snarled at the piece of metal that was laying on the ground, though broken at the end that she held it by. He marched into the other room that she had found him pawing at and looked up at the ceiling to where he entered and escaped the den. He stood and moved the heavy object that was sitting on top of his hole and took a great leap out of there. Though he moved the heavy thing back after he was through.

He crouched down and took a great leap to the next building and looked over the dying town with a solemn gaze. He hated what he was about to do and growled at himself before leaping away from the roof top and down to the ground. He knew there was a place near by that held the shiny metal blades that the girl seemed to adore. He crashed into the window of the said building and looked around until he found the kind of blade that she had.

Gurgling a laugh to himself, he slung it over his back with ease, but hissed as the hard outer shell made contact with the she creature's mark. The hunter glared back at the weapon and growled darkly. Was he getting this thing for her just so she could attack him again? He didn't even know why he was getting it at all. Something different then caught his gaze. He saw one of the strange red boxes that the humans seemed to covet so dearly. What was in them he never knew. He grabbed it as well and placed the easily breakable handle in his teeth.

With what he came for in hand, the hunter was once again leaping away, back to his den. Back to the human. The growl that passed his lips made him shudder slightly. Back to the human. Why was he even going back to the human? He didn't know and he didn't really care. She was in his den, asleep. He could easily over take her and kill her. Something stopped him from that though and it confused him greatly. He made his way back to the building with some ease, moving the heavy object away from the hole once more. He moved it back after he had slipped through and landed softly on the floor.

He pawed over to the girl and laid the red box and the metal blade on the floor next to her. What was the weeping he had heard though when he came in? Was the she creature in his den? No, he had seen her slaughtered. He watched the girl and noticed that water was coming out of her eyes, even as she slept. He leaned over and gently sniffed at them, shying away as she whined. She was upset as she slept. This was another puzzle that he wanted to crack, but he shook it off as she shivered.

Taking a glance around the room, he noticed a cloth by the red steel door. He pawed over to it and looked at it carefully. There was a howling creature on it. He gently grabbed it up and brought it over to the girl, throwing it over her messily. Her body seemed to stop its shiver as the cloth touched her and she curled up into a ball. It must have been something to keep her warm like the outer skin that humans always seemed to wear. She sniffled slightly before she calmed and he just watched her for a few moments before stalking over to the table that she had hit earlier in anger, laying underneath it. He curled up into his own ball then and slept.

* * *

I woke up later that night, feeling pain in my chest. I had gotten my wish of not dreaming, but I still felt the pain in my heart as if I did. I pulled the blanket up around me... wait, I had a blanket? I remembered that I had fallen asleep on top of the sleeping bags, so I was not in one. I looked at the blanket that was carelessly thrown over my form to see that it was my blanket. It shocked me as I looked around to see just where the hunter was. He was in a corner balled up tightly, sleeping most likely.

My eyes caught something different out of my peripheral vision though. There was something laying beside me and I sat up quickly. There was a sword and a med-kit laying there. How did they get there though? I hadn't moved from my spot unless... No it couldn't be possible. Did the hunter go out and get me these things? No he couldn't have possibly done those things. Infected weren't smart enough to do those kinds of things.

* * *

I knew in my heart though that he had done it. I just didn't want to admit it so freely, so openly. Yet he had already proved to me that he was smarter than the others. He seemed to understand what I was saying for the most part. It unnerved me. Though I wasn't up to debate it anymore. I looked his direction and muttered a quiet 'thank you' his way and curled back up under my blanket, to sleep once again.

A/N – Hey guys! I had fun writing this chapter! It was pretty good to write in the point of view of the hunter! I felt like I had to, switch it up a little bit you know? The I's and Mes and Mys were getting too monotonous for me. XD Anyway Hope you guys enjoyed it! R/R =D


	5. Chapter 5 Am I Safe with You?

Chapter 5- Am I Safe With You?

I woke up abruptly the next time I did so. The hunter was looming over me, his body across mine, though he was still on all fours. He was growling darkly beside my ear, his warm breath tickling it. Though it seemed that he wasn't growling directly at me. "What is it you sense?" I spoke just above a whisper as I looked over to see the side of his face. His teeth were bared in a vicious snarl, his head pointed toward the red steel door. I strained my own senses to see if I could make out anything in the dark of the room. I heard a cackling outside of it as the hunter got up, still crouching low.

He motioned for me to follow him, so I did in best interest. He led me to the back room, where the bed and bath were. He held up a finger to his snarling lips. I stayed quiet and watched him the best I could in the dark. He moved his hand away from his mouth, pointing to the door in the bed area and making a twisting motion with his wrist, his thumb and pointer finger held apart by a small space, like he was turning something. I only nodded not understanding yet. He then pointed to himself and made a soft purr like sound and a scratch at the door.

I got the gist of what he was trying to tell me though. He basically said to shut up, lock the door and wait for him to return before I made any sort of noise. I nodded stiffly at him as he prowled out of the extra storage area. I quickly and quietly pushed the door shut and locked it, but I was extremely curious as to what was going on while he was away. While I was locked in a dark room. I didn't like it one bit, but I had to put a little bit of my trust in him.

* * *

The hunter stalked out toward the large red door and removed the things that he needed to for his 'visitor' to enter. The cackling monkey thing hopped in and continued its persistent laughter. It talked to him in gurgles and laughs as it gazed at its companion. The hunter growling softly in return. They were having a conversation that only they could understand thankfully for the hunter.

The monkey thing bounced and laughed as it looked at him, telling him that he had smelled food close by and was wondering if the hunter had made a fresh kill. He shook his head, growling and letting out a small shriek as he told the monkey thing of the humans that had assaulted his den days ago. That he was hurt in the process of killing one of them.

The other, more hyper, creature gazed at him grinning wildly. The hunter told him that the she creature that had brought up residence in the area as well was gone due to the humans, though in a different way. He growled darkly as he saw a break in the monkey thing's laughs. He knew that the monkey thing was fond of the she creature but it concerned him a lot less more than his companion.

The monkey thing tilted it's head to the side before it garbled about where the different smelling creatures went. The hunter hesitated for a moment before telling him the opposite direction than what the humans took. It then asked about the one that he had injured, smelling her blood all over the den. That question though put the hunter on edge, but he grinned toothily at the monkey thing. He told her that he had eaten her, bones and all. For a bit of enthusiasm he licked some of the dried blood off of his lips.

His companion looked dissatisfied with the answer but let it pass as he leaped his way out of the hunter's den and went on its way to find the humans that had supposedly taken the life of the monkey things mate. The hunter then relocked the door and prowled his way back into the dark confines of the storage room.

* * *

I listened quietly as I heard the hunter's tell tale sign of his return. I heard the scratch at the door and the purr gesture. I unlocked the door as quickly as my shaking hands would let me and took a leap at the hunter, wrapping my arms around him. He seemed to be stunned at what I just did, but put a comforting hand on the top of my head. He made a low growl in his throat that told me that everything was alright. I released him quickly though. It wasn't like me to latch onto someone I was just yelling at the other night.

He had left me in the room long enough that I had heard the jockey enter the room and cackle crazily. Yet being in that room gave me time to think. I had treated this hunter horribly, like all of my pain had been his fault. I knew that he had pretty bad injuries from being shot and scratched by the witch, but he still went out and found me a new sword and even a med-kit. He even had the sense to protect me from one of his infected buddies.

I didn't know how long the hunter was over me before I woke up, but I had taken the guess that it had been a while. I smelled like him. Smelled like the death and decay that hung onto his tattered clothing. He had rubbed his scent on me to make me unnoticeable to the jockey that had come and by now gone. He was protecting me the best he could and then some, even from his special infected buddies.

I felt horrible then at the way I had treated him.

He was protecting me, and all I had ever shown toward him was hostility and anger. I was on the edge of tears, a huge lump in my throat as I looked into the darkness of his hood, to the best of my ability to try and see his eyes. "I... I'm sorry..." I spoke softly, trying not to let the lump in my throat break through, though I heard my voice crack at speaking.

The hunter only tilted his head to the side at me as if to ask 'what for?' I then smiled the best I could. "For treating you the way I have been." I knew that there were tears coming from my eyes then. It was so hard to speak. He whined though when he saw the tears and I shook my head. I knew that the tears were coming, for a long time now, but I had not expected them to come right then. The lump finally decided to come out of my throat as I sobbed.

I sat heavily down on my rear as I started to cry, bringing my arms up around my knees to draw them closer to me. I wanted to disappear at that moment. Be gone away from this hell, this apocalyptic nightmare. The hunter fussed about and whined for a little while, my guess is wondering what was wrong, but I couldn't answer him my throat was so tight. I then felt him curl his body around me from my back, almost like a dog would do.

I slid myself down and turned, resting my head on the hunter's side, sobbing into his musty, death smelling clothes. It brought me comfort when he moved one of his clawed hands to lightly touch my head. I felt like a child holding onto an adult as I laid there and wept, just by how much bigger than me he was. He made some throaty sounds as if trying to comfort me, maybe even trying to speak. I only listened for a while, until I felt the pain of sleep starting to over come me once more.

* * *

The hunter laid with the girl for what seemed like hours on the cold floor of the oddly placed bed and bath area in the safe house. He felt bad for her, knowing that the companions she was traveling with had run off without her. It also brought him sorrow, the situation feeling vaguely familiar. His brain seemed to seize up and he made a low grumble as a throbbing pain went through his head.

_A man was running for his life as he saw a person attack one of his friends. Ragged teeth and hideous features decorated the person's face. Blood poured from the attacker's mouth as his friend screamed in pain. "Josh!" The man heard himself call as he ran back to his friend. He shot at the head of the monster that was attacking, with the black gun in his hand. The monster latched down onto his friend's shoulder, the bullet missing it's intended target._

_ The man cursed under his breath as he took another shot, aiming carefully. This time the bullet connected with its mark. The monster had slumped over, bleeding profusely from the wound that it had in its head. Blood was also coming from the wound that his friend had taken on. There was a __wheelchair near by and the other man's legs were horribly twisted, disfigured even. He was a paraplegic, the man took note of that at this moment, but his mind stayed clear as he tried to stop the bleeding of his friend. "You're going to be okay, Josh." He said comfortingly._

_ The other man, Josh, shook his head, his dark framed glasses lop sided on his face. "I'm not going to be fine. I'm going to become one of them." He motioned to the dead man laying close by. "Get out of here while you still have ammo, you'll need it." Josh coughed as he took in ragged breaths. The man had a few tears streaming down his cheeks as he nodded his head, standing. He turned and ran the opposite direction that they had been coming from._

_ It hurt deeply to leave his friend behind, but he knew that he had to. The infection had broken out not even a week into the month of July. It was hot out, but this day was oddly cold to him. He got into his car and drove away, having most of his stuff in his car anyway. He traveled a lot it seemed._

The hunter growled in pain as he got up and moved away from the girl, only having her wrap an arm around him to draw him closer to her. He let out a fierce growl at her and she almost immediately got up. She looked at him wearily, it was obvious that she was still exhausted.

I watched the hunter as he paced around looking in pain. He tore his claws at the wall and even at himself. He drug the extensions of his fingers from the back of his hood up to his face, ripping the flimsy hood off of him. I was shocked when I saw his hair. It was a vibrant red color, not from the blood he was producing or the caked blood that was on his face and claws. It was oddly beautiful. It came about to pass his chin, evidently he had it tied at one point but his claws ripping at the hood must have undone it.

Yet he continued to rip at the darkly colored hoodie that he wore. It was a zip up that I was sure of, but it's original color was gone with the stains of grime and blood. He stood and started to shred the wall again, this time up at his full height. I had to stop what he was doing before he alerted anything that had made itself known to his cries and the ripping sounds.

I stood and slowly made my way up to him, one of my hands outstretched to him. I couldn't find my breath as my fingertips lightly touched the fabric that separated my skin and his from contact.

I couldn't breath.

The next thing that I knew I was back on the floor, my back against the coldness of the concrete. My abdomen was throbbing with pain as I felt the weight of what seemed to be lead on top of me. My breath was gone from my lungs as soon as I hit the floor, but it was harder to get it now that I had the hunter straddled on top of my waist, pinning me down. I stared up into his eyes. They were the deathly white that all of the other infected had, yet he seemed to have a bit of a pupil and that took up most of the white.

I finally felt myself be able to draw in a breath as he started to lower the deadly claws toward me. I waited for the pain, opened my mouth to let out a silent shriek. I had no voice at that moment, and the pain never came. I opened the eyes I didn't realize I shut and looked up at him. He seemed to be breathing heavily as he was staring down at me, his eyes now full of fear. He let out a strange grumble that resonated through the now quiet room.

'What have I done?'

That was the interpretation I got from that garble. He backed off of me quickly and let me sit up, he on the other hand crouched down to his haunches, moving his hands in front of him. He stared at them for a few moments before a sobbing whine came out of his mouth. His face was contorted with self hate, fear and even sorrow. Whatever was going on in his head had startled him, and when he had attacked me, he did it out of fear. He rocked back and forth on his legs as the sobbing continued, I could tell that he seemed to want to curl up into a ball and die there.

Slowly, I flipped myself over and crawled my way to the hunter. I gently rested my hand on one of his knees and he shot a glance up at me. His eyes were back to what seemed normal and I stared into them. The palest shade of blue around his pupil faded into the milky white. He still had an iris. His hair now seemed to curtain his face, dangling a little longer in the back than it was in the front. He had many scratches on his face that were forming into scars.

The hunter muttered incoherently as he watched me. Tears were falling from his eyes, all feral intentions gone from them. I sat up on my knees and parted his hands away to the sides. I wrapped my arms around his neck, cradling his head to my shoulder. I got a soft whine out of my action as he wrapped his arms around me, turning his claws away from the flesh of my back. He sobbed into my collar bone and I just held him, letting him.

I muttered things from, "Its alright now." to "I'm here for you." for comfort to him. He trembled in my arms like a scared animal. Whatever had gone though his mind when he moved me had disturbed him greatly. I wanted to know what it was, maybe it would help him, but I kept my mouth shut. I gently rubbed his back, finding something that I didn't see in his rage. The wounds the witch gave him had reopened with his ferocity. I looked at my hand at the sticky substance and sighed to myself.

"You know, we're going to have to clean your wounds." I spoke softly to him and he made a hushed growl. The hunter didn't seem very fond of that. "Let me help you. You've already done much for me. Let me do this one thing." Well one thing was an understatement. I was going to do two things to him, the first being a bath. I could hardly stand the stench of rot and death on him as close as we were right now. "First thing is first though, how about some food?" I spoke almost jokingly. He quickly shot up at that idea and smiled his toothy grin at me, basically pulling me up with him. I could only laugh at his eagerness.

A/N- This one took me the start of yesterday and the rest of today to finish. =/ I had a writers block while thinking of this one and was easily distracted XD But its out now! ^.^


	6. Chapter 6 My Human, My Hunter

Chapter 6 – My Human, My Hunter.

I was digging through some of the boxes in the store room after eating can of mixed fruit to myself and giving the hunter his own can of food. I really didn't inspect it to well but he seemed to enjoy it. I had found a box with clothing in it, most of it men's. I picked out a few different sets of clothing, trying to match them to the best of my ability. A fresh pair of white socks, a pair of black sweat pants with white lines going down the legs, a pair of dark green boxers and a navy blue tee shirt were what I found. It disheartened me to know that I could not fix the hunter's hoodie or find him a new one within this box of clothes

I had noticed that he was acting slightly differently when I had gotten him his food. It seemed like he was actually using his eyes. Apparently he hadn't been before, just using his hearing and his scent. That was my guess at why the hunters I had seen, before this one, were blind or missing eyes. They were more like dogs than I gave them credit for, well maybe not dogs, but wolves. They didn't normally seem to work together as a pack though. We came on to many instances where there was more than one special infected in the area, wanting to kill us at the same time. Maybe these creatures we called "zombies" weren't exactly as stupid as we thought they were.

Maybe they weren't just mindless killing machines.

That I found out when I met the hunter. He had human emotion and even some human reactions. He understood the English language, and I could even see him gazing at some of the graffiti that lined the walls of the safe room as I looked back at him. I walked into the bed/bath area and laid the clothes out on the bed, in order of importance; boxers, pants, shirt and socks. Then I went back to searching the storage room for anything that may resemble soap, and even a towel or two. I looked about for fifteen or so minutes before sighing. There wasn't anything like that in this room. I even searched the bathroom and the room that I had found the hunter in but there was no trace of bathing articles.

In defeat, I went back into the main safe room and picked up my back pack, as well as the new sword the hunter had got for me. I noticed him from the corner of my eye, tilting his head and letting out a soft whine. I turned to look at the hunter and sighed, "I need to go out and find something to clean your wounds with. My companions decided to take most of the stuff that I had scrounged up." I muttered the last part, but he knew what I was talking about, or so he thought. I knew where to go to as well.

"I need you to do one thing for me though." I spoke as I unlatched the red steel door. He only stared at me as if waiting for me to continue. "I need you to keep an eye out for any sort of danger as I make my way to where I need to go." He seemed to understand what I was getting at and as soon as the door was opened, he lunged out. I saw him dart out of the ammo store and to the nearest roof top, keeping an eye on everything that was around the place we held out.

The store that I was going to was a little self run business that I had went to only once before and remembered vaguely. It was about a block or two away and was across from the old library. It held herbal soaps, incense, candles and more, it was perfect for cleaning out wounds.

I dashed out of the store myself after closing the safe room door tightly behind me. I quickly checked the street to see if there was any of the common infected to be seen, but nothing was in my sight. I made a break for it, running as fast as I could. It spoke to me that I had a fear of the world, the nightmare. I also loved the feel of being able to run again, even though I had an intended destination. I felt the wind blowing through my hair, the warmness of the air made me smile, though the scent of it made me want to vomit. It smelled horribly of decay, and it brought a tear to my eye, the stench being that strong.

The hiss above me stopped me in my tracks and I ducked back to lean against the nearest building, having my new sword gripped tightly between my hands. The hunter dropped down beside me and told me to follow him, just motioning with his head. I followed him with no doubts in my mind, but then the little voice of reason in my head spoke up. 'Should you really be trusting him? He attacked you more than once! He may be leading you down the alley to your demise!' I only, mentally, growled at it. It wasn't the time to be fighting with myself. I followed him as his pace started to pick up, until we rounded a corner and there was a crash behind us into the building we were once facing.

I heard a low rumble from the hunter's throat as he looked at the lop sided creature that came out of the dust and rubble. A few bricks fell out of the hole it's charge had made. The larger creature had an arm that was at least four times the size of its other, scrawny one. It had blood, both dried and fresh dripping down its disfigured face and chest, and the overalls were held up by the one strap on the scrawny arm, the other strap hung behind it, the button ripped off from it strange arm growth. It was the thing that the many graffiti I'd seen had called a 'Charger.'

It snarled at the two of us, and the hunter growled in response. He was crouched down in front of me now, keeping his eyes on the charger. The larger infected stood straight for a second, seemingly confused. It was probably wondering why the hunter was protecting me, the would be food. The hunter looked back at me and seemed to mouth a word, though it came out as a hissing growl. His lips moved around his sharply pointed teeth as the word had looked like 'run', but I'm not a lip reader.

I did as he asked, I took off running in the way he was leading me. I didn't want to go though, to leave him there to get more hurt than he already was. 'He's a hunter, Ravei, for Christ's sake. He can take care of himself just fine.' The thought wreaked havoc on my brain though. I didn't want him hurt, that was the only phrase that was playing back in my mind like it was on repeat. It finally left though when I saw the towering building of the library. I drew out my sword and made a mad dash for it, cutting down a few of the infected that lingered in the streets. I made it to the store, it's doors smashed open, one off of the hinges.

I went to work on getting what I needed, for both myself and the hunter.

* * *

The hunter growled as he looked at the big armed one, keeping his strange gaze on it. It gurgled a phrase at him, asking why he was not allowed to get to his food, to satisfy his hunger. The hunter only hissed a reply, one that said, 'If you touch her, you're as good as dead.' The big armed one seemed to flinch at unspoken words and the hunter continued to hiss and growl, saying something of the sorts, 'She is my human.'

His human? When had he claimed her as his responsibility? Why had he even said anything aloud without thinking about it before hand. This human girl had him so messed up within himself that he didn't know what was going on in his brain anymore. He focused more on his opponent now.

The charger only seemed to let out a chuckle at his words, and then a grumbled message of, 'What are you going to do about it if I do get to her?' It had a smirk on its disfigured face as it saw the hunter tense up. He snarled at the big arm as it continued its guttural words. 'She will be helpless with that puny metal of hers.' The big arm was taunting him. It angered the hunter further.

A cackle came from the big arm and the hunter took a leap at him. The big arm was taken off guard by his attack, but brought his arm up in time to blow the other infected back into a wall. A hiss came from the hunter as his back slammed into the brick. It stung horribly from the she creature's mark and he lost his breath for a moment, which resulted in the larger infected coming up and holding him there. He felt it wrap its large hand around his neck, holding him in place and choking him at the same time. He dug his claws into the fleshy hand, though it hardly left a scratch. This made the big arm chuckle.

Then a gun shot rang out and the big arm stumbled slightly in pain. "Leave my hunter alone!"

* * *

I was looking through the store quickly picking out what I needed. I got one of the herbal soaps for the hunter, a lavender rose mixed one for myself and a few other choices that I thought would be nice. I also found some clean towels there, which was a relief to me because I wouldn't have to go visit another store. That was all in the front of the store though, I'd yet to investigate the back. So that's where I headed.

In the back of the store I saw many more things, like the incense and oils. I also saw a door to a back room. I thought to myself, 'What hurt would it do to look around a little bit? I haven't been to this store in ages anyway, so it shouldn't hurt.' I opened the door to the back room and gasped. It had walls of clothing for females. I felt like I was in heaven for a second. I went to the section of clothes that would fit me, being a little bigger than those girls that wore single digit sizes, I was about a 11-13 not too big and not too small. I dropped my clothes then and there and picked up the first outfit I found. It was just a simple, yet comfortable pair of blue jeans, and a Metallica tee shirt. I then stuffed two more outfits in my bag.

I took one last look around and found something interesting on the far back wall. There was a weapon there that I had only read about that sparked my interest greatly. I gave a little smirk to myself as I wandered up to it, gripping the black wood of the shaft in my hands, which were trembling in excitement. The thin blade at the end was curved slightly, not broken but finely crafted. It was a naganita, and I loved every bit of it that I touched. I discarded the sword the hunter had gotten me and picked this one up, slinging it around my back to where my shot gun would be.

Sighing, I remembered that I had just gotten the sword and didn't take the shot gun with me. I scolded myself for forgetting it. I then rummaged through the store again, checking under the cash register. To my surprise, there was a pistol holstered and taped under the desk. I took it and attached it to my pants, through one of the belt loops. I felt like a kid in a candy store right now, finding things that I wasn't expecting. It gave me hope.

That was when I remembered the hunter. "Oh god..." I said a loud as I made a mad dash out of the store and back toward where I had left him. I let out a quick gasp of air when I saw the charger had him pinned to the wall, and all of his attempts to free himself were in vain. I growled lowly and took out the pistol from its holster. Holding it up and aiming as carefully as I could, I fired. The shot seemed to ring out in the silence and time seemed to stop for a few brief moments.

The bullet hit its intended target, and the charger groaned in pain as it stuck into his back, near his larger arm's shoulder blade. "Leave my hunter alone!" I growled at it as it turned to face me, dropping the injured hunter from its grasp. He made a hiss as he landed on his feet, almost stumbling over. He held one clawed hand to his neck where the charger held him up. His strange eyes glared up at me and then to the larger infected.

When the hunter looked at me his eyes sent chills down my spine from the message they conveyed. 'Why did you come back?' I knew I had to, I couldn't let him take on this thing with his injuries so bad already. The charger then dashed at me with a speed that I didn't know was possible. I gasped and dropped the pistol. I was not in the best of situations at that moment.

The charger grabbed me with his large hand and slammed me down into the ground, though the impact was lessened with the back pack, but the wood from the naganita was hard against it. I let out a strangled hiss of pain as it pulled me up to look into its beady red eyes. It opened its disfigured mouth and bit down on my shoulder. I screamed.

The pain was intense as I felt its rotted teeth sink into my flesh, gushing my blood out and into it's system. It even made the sound of pure ecstasy. It wanted more than just the little taste of blood it got from me and had me pushed back against the wall. I felt tears streaming down my face at the pain being so excruciating. I felt my shoulder wanting to pop from how hard his bite was, and it made me scream even louder.

The infected then released me from its grip as it made its own scream of pain. My eyes didn't want to stay open but I looked over it's shoulder. The hunter was on it's back scratching it and biting at it fiercely. I kind of smiled to myself as the charger let me drop to the ground. I slid down to my butt as the two infected fought. I couldn't take the pain anymore and started to feel myself black out.

* * *

The big arm had bitten her! It made the hunter seethe in rage and hate toward the larger infected. He stood straight up for a few moments before regaining his normal footing. He saw the big arm then push her against the wall, grumbling in pleasure from the taste of blood in in its mouth. This made him more furious than he had ever been. He had claimed the human as his and in the end she had claimed him as hers. It made him stronger, he felt the rage coursing through him like a river full of rapids.

He had heard her screams of pain and that pushed him over the edge. He couldn't hold back his instincts any longer. He let out a loud shriek as he jumped at the big arm, landing on its back. It screamed in pain as it released its hold on the girl. She looked cold, almost like the stupid ones that would wander aimlessly. He attacked the big arm more ferociously after seeing her like that, her blood spilling out of her shoulder. He drug the larger infected away as it tried to fling him off of it's back.

Its little arm was too weak and its bigger one too balky so it did no good to try and rip the more agile hunter off of its back. He climbed up higher to where he was almost on it's shoulders and started to claw and bite at it's neck and head. Blood gushed out of it's neck when he had found what he was looking for, the jugular vein. He had inserted his claws deeply into the source of fresh blood and made the big arm freeze before it screamed in pain.

He jumped away only when it fell down to the ground onto it's face, the big arm taking in a sharp breath before exhaling slowly. The hunter could smell it going cold with death. He still had rage in him but not as much now that it had fallen by his hand. He quickly remembered the girl and rushed over to her side. The blood was starting to dry a little bit and it had stopped more so than he expected. Yet he knew that something was different, that if he didn't act quickly she would change.

The hunter sorrowfully bit down where the charger had and started to suck at the wound, trying to clear up some of the infection like it was poison. It seemed to help greatly because she stirred and tried to shake him off even though she was in a bad state. He let go once he was sure that he could not draw any more of the infection out. It hurt him deeply to see her hurt, but he knew that he had to take her back to his den. He wandered over and grabbed the pistol, the cold metal seeming to burn his flesh. He put it back into the holster that she had on her hip and gently lifted her up into his arms.

He then dashed away, making the sprint back to the den. He had to help her some how, there had to be bandages and stuff back at the den that he could use to help her. He was intent on saving his human. His human. The words resonated in his head as he ran. Soon being back at the ammo store, he crashed into the den and laid her on the soft bed of sleeping bags. He had to work quickly with the bandages if there was any hope in helping her.

* * *

A/N- And there you have chapter 6! I hope you enjoyed it, though I'm not very good with fight scenes xP And please don't hesitate to review! Thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7 What Hurts the Most

Chapter 7 – What Hurts the Most

It hurt. The whole body I laid in hurt. I looked up at the sky as I took a deep breath. I was looking at a sky. A clear, beautiful blue sky, and my back was against soft green grass. Just where was I? I sat up slowly and looked around, the pain leaving my body. I was back in my home town, in one of the many fields that were scattered about. I sighed in relief, the whole zombie apocalypse had been a nightmare. That was when it hit me though. Where was everyone?

I looked around slowly and as if on cue, Drake came over to me from out of nowhere. "What's up, pup?" He smiled as he sat down beside me, his dark eyes shining. Pup was his affectionate nick name for me, because he had said that I acted almost like a puppy.

"Nothing much I guess... What happened?" I spoke quietly as I gazed at him. He seemed different, happy almost and it made me start to think that something was not right.

"You know I haven't seen you in this bad of shape since you and Teagon went through your little relationship issue." He pointed to my shoulder and I looked down at it. I grasped a hold of it as I saw the blood on it, drizzling down from a deep bite wound.

"Oh god... What... How? Am I dead?" I took a look between the wound and Drake before keeping my gaze on him directly. I was scared out of my mind, I didn't want to die.

"No, you're not dead yet, pup, you're just healing." He thought of the best word to use before he continued. "We're both in your head I guess, but as you know I'm dead." I reached my hand out to touch him and he leaned his face into my touch. He nuzzled his cheek against my open palm and smiled at me. "But since we're in your head I guess I'm as visible as a living being huh?" He then looked past me onto the place he had appeared.

Two more figures danced out of that same place, one being a bit larger than the other. They were pushing each other around and I knew who they were. "Teagon... Brion..." I gasped as they each in turn waved toward Drake and I. Teagon bounded up and almost knocked me back down into the grass as he pounced on me. Brion did the same but with less enthusiasm.

"I've missed you guys so much." I almost bawled as all three of them had a hand on me, bringing me comfort. They smiled at me, but just as quick as the smile was there, their smiles turned to frowns.

"We're here because of something going on in your house, and your health itself." Brion was the first to speak. I looked up at him as he continued, "You need to keep your sanity and fight back whatever is holding you here in your own mind."

"What?" It was the only thing I could say as I stared at him.

"You're fighting off something that is very deadly." Teagon spoke up and I turned to him. "The infection that was threatening to take us all before you helped us get out of the majority of it." I gasped as I looked at him and then to the bite wound. "Yes that is what caused it."

"You need to keep your head straight though, pup, especially what we're about to tell you." Drake was quiet as he spoke and I waited for him to continue. He drew in a deep breath as he said the next sentence, "Your mother is coming home."

I stared at him in silent disbelief. My eyes were wide with surprise and my breath was caught in my throat. I felt dizzy from the lack of oxygen after about a half a minute so I drew in a deep breath. Yet when the breath came I fell to my knees and broke into tears. I was happy and sad at the same time as the three of them put their comforting hands on me once again. My heart was beating rapidly as I looked up at the three of them.

"We have to go now Ravei." Teagon spoke up and I looked at the three, distraught. I had just gotten them back after a long time and they were already leaving me. I guess they saw the look on my face, because they all seemed to mirror my emotion.

"But hey, we'll always be here." Brion pointed to my head. "And we'll be here too." He then pointed to my heart and I smiled, hugging each of them before they started to disappear.

"Oh and by the way pup, trust your new friend. He's a very kind guy, but I think you'll get to know that the more that you stay with him." Drake gave me a wink before he fully faded from my vision. I looked up to the clear blue sky as everything around me started to melt away with my on coming consciousness.

* * *

The hunter was getting on his last nerve. His human wasn't waking up and it was annoying him to no end. He had bandaged up her wound to the best of his ability, his claws had gotten in the way endless times though. He had left a few pin pricks on her skin and scolded himself. She did not wake up from the pain of his little marks though and it made him worry and very annoyed. Her breathing was normal so he knew that she was alive but she just wouldn't wake up!

Growling in confusion and anger, he had gotten up to leave but quickly did something he didn't even expect himself to do. He went back to her side and nuzzled his cheek to hers, nipping gently at her neck. He was making her his, making sure that no others would try to hurt her while he was away. He jumped out of the ammo store after closing the large red steel door behind him and sat up on one of the roof tops. He was in deep thought when something hit him.

He leaped down to the street and made a mad dash on all fours toward a car. A few of the stupid creatures were wandering around, but not that they noticed him. He sniffed at the car and found that smell, the smell he hadn't smelled in ages. It hurt to remember this smell, because it no longer smelled the same as it once did. Something then flashed across his mind and it made his head throb in pain.

_The man fell out of his car and onto the street, coughing horribly. He had just started to have these bad coughing fits when he entered the town and went to a fast food restaurant. Evidently the hygiene there wasn't the best. He rubbed his wary eyes as he stood up, looking around as people ran from other, paler looking people. He pushed himself up off of the ground and closed the door to his car. He had to find safety. He took one last look at the beautiful black Ford Mustang, which held all of his possessions and life._

_ He made his way to the nearest ammunition store and gazed around. No one was in there and he sighed as he made his way to where the back room was. There was a large red steel door there, which he went in and locked behind him. If he was going to die, he was going to do it where he was safe. He walked back into the storage rooms and found one that was on the left side with hardly anything in it, just a few boxes. _

_ The man sat there in the darkness, his dark, red hair hung down into his pale blue eyes as he smiled to himself. He didn't know what he was smiling about but he did it anyway. He grabbed a hold of his stomach as he had another coughing fit. This time blood showed up on his hand. "I'm going to die soon..." He spoke with a deep, quiet voice. He pulled up the dark green hood of the hoodie he wore and laid his back against the wall._

_ Everything soon went dark, he was slowly fading out of consciousness. Yet he still held a handsome smile across his face. He didn't want to lose to anything, especially not a stupid virus. So that is why he went out with a smile, instead of a sad or angry face._

The hunter held his head as he beat his fist against the door of the car he was crouched beside. Some black paint chips fell off of it as his claws dug into it's side. He wanted to lash out at the nearest thing to him and kill it but he was holding himself back. He was trying to keep his sanity, for his sake and his human's. There those words were again, 'his human.' He tried to shake his head to clear his thoughts as he looked up at the black car in front of him.

He opened the door slowly, expecting one of those high pitched alarms to go off that called every stupid wandering one around to it. Yet it made no sound and he hopped into the driver's seat, looking back into the boxes that lined the back seat. He dug through the first one he came to and found a navy blue hoodie. He quickly undid the one that he had on and put the new one on. He finally felt like he was back to his full potential with a full hood on instead of just scraps. He could smell better now and hear farther. He loved it.

He kept digging through the boxes until he found something that looked like it used to be important to him. It was a piece of hard leather that was folded in three sections. He opened it and looked through it, noticing a few pictures, and smiled. He put the leather in his hoodie pocket and continued to search the boxes. He found what he was looking for. It was a first aid kit, and he knew that everything in it was still intact. He put it in his teeth and hurried back to his den, he needed the kit for his human, and he was going to use it well.

When he got back to the den, she still was not awake and it disturbed him greatly. He went up to her and listened to her breathing, which was extremely shallow. He moved his head down to her heart, and listened. It was beating rapidly. She still felt feverish as she moved and put her arm around his shoulder. The hunter whined softly, hoping that she would wake up soon. He wanted her companionship more than anything right now. She was the only person he knew of that didn't think of him as a monster.

He kept whining softly as he placed one of his hands on her cheek, realizing that it was hot with fever. He didn't know what to do and it scared him. It was then as he was staring at her that her eyes fluttered and he felt his heart skip a beat. His heart skipped a beat? That was new to him and he felt very anxious as she muttered something, though he couldn't quite make it out. It showed him that she wasn't dead and he let out a sigh of relief.

I felt very queasy as I woke up, I didn't open my eyes but I felt a weight on the side of my face. It was a cold touch and I leaned into it, loving the feel of it. It felt like calloused flesh and it made me feel even better. I slowly let my eyes flutter open, everything was blurry for a few moments and I heard a soft whine. I looked in the direction of it and saw a blurred figure, but I knew what or who it was when it started to tremble. "Hey." I breathed lightly and the hunter made a purr of happiness toward me. It made me smile even though I felt like crap.

As soon as he moved away from me though I felt the heat rush back to me and almost choked. My throat was extremely dry. How long had I been asleep this time? My shoulder was also throbbing in pain and I gasped as soon as I moved to lift myself away from the softness I had been sleeping on. I slowly looked down at it and realized I was on the bed in the storage area of the safe room. I leaned my weight more on my right elbow than on my left and bit my lip. It hurt to sit up but I did, and one question went through my mind. How did I get here from dying in an alley way?

My answer came soon enough as the hunter came back into the room, in what seemed to be a new hoodie with a water bottle in his grasp. He clamped his teeth around it as he reached me and twisted it open. He gently rested a hand on the back of my head and held the water bottle up to my lips. I slowly drank from it, feeling the coolness of the now stale water hit my lips and pass through my throat. It felt heavenly to say the least. I looked up at the hunter and smiled after he moved the water away from my lips. "Thank you." I whispered.

His pale eyes looked down at me as he nodded, seemingly happy. His pale, blue eyes showed that much at least and it made me smile. He then took his hand off the back of my head and gently touched my shoulder and I gasped. Evidently it was still extremely tender. That was when I looked down and noticed that my shirt was gone. I could have sworn my eyes went wide right then and there and my jaw dropped. I grabbed the closest thing to me, which happened to be my blanket, and put it over my chest. The hunter seemed to chuckle at my attempt to pull it over to me. I shot him a glare and shook my head.

I looked under the blanket and realized that my whole chest was covered up by bandages. They wrapped around my chest and my shoulder so evidently someone had the courtesy to tend to my wounds. I also saw that my skin was extremely pale from being normally tanned. Was it because of how much blood I lost in the wound? Or was it that I slept so long? "How many days was I sleeping?"

I asked the hunter and rested a hand on my forehead. He looked like he was in thought before he held up three fingers.

I was out for three days again? I saw a pattern here. I slowly swung my legs over the edge of the bed and started to stand, but I failed horribly and landed back on the bed. "I'm extremely weak huh?" I smiled over at my companion and he let a soft whine come out of his throat. I looked around the small room and it was lit up, rather than dark like it normally was. This was the first time I actually got a good look at it. The room was small but it had tan colored walls, with darker hard wood around the bottom and the ceiling. The bed spread was a darker brown as well, just sheets. Whoever had come up with this scheme was pretty good color wise.

The hunter looked up at me as I was gazing around and nudged my arm. He held up what seemed to be a first aid kit and I smiled at him. I reached out my hand and patted him on the head. "You've been taking care of me while I've been sick haven't you?" I felt him bob his head under my hand and smiled softly. "Thank you again." I pulled my hand away and rested it back in my lap, closing my eyes. I was exhausted even though I had just woken up not even fifteen minutes ago. I guess I was straining myself to do things I would normally do, like sitting up and even drinking.

"I think I need to get some more sleep." I spoke quietly to him and he nodded his head. I laid back down on the bed and slowly closed my eyes. I felt a nudge at my side and a soft purr reached my ears before I had finally fallen back into a dreamless sleep.

A/N – Yay Finally got this one done! It was hard to do since I kept losing track of what I was supposed to be doing lol. But I finally got it out and I hope you all enjoy it. I may rewrite the whole story eventually but that's only to clear up some things that may be confusing. Anyway. Hope you all enjoyed it! Review please! =D


	8. Chapter 8 A Familiar Face

Chapter 8 – A Familiar Face

The hunter kept a silent vigil over his human as she slept, though he was hungry and didn't know how to open the cans that she seemed to favor. He could smell the blood that pumped through her veins and to the wound in her shoulder which pulsated every so often. It made his mouth water every time he could smell her heart pulse. He had to stop himself from biting into her soft flesh multiple times. It was agony in itself. He knew he shouldn't think the way he was about her, but he couldn't stop his primal instincts. He hated himself for it, it caused him immense emotional pain.

Laying his head down beside hers, his cheek nearly touching her skin, the hunter listened to her soft breathing. She had only been sleeping for a couple of hours from the last she spoke to him. He was wondering when she was going to wake up next so that he may get some food. The human stirred slightly when she took notice to his touch and seemed to nuzzle into it, which took him by surprise. It seemed evident that she sought out companionship from something that was alive, or semi alive in this case.

He slowly moved away from her touch when he heard a noise outside of his den. The hunter growled lowly and closed the door to the small bed area behind him. He didn't know what to expect. Was it the girl's friends coming back to rescue her? Was it another creature that wanted to devour her like the big armed one? He didn't know the answers to the questions, but he was going to find out soon enough. He made his way to the large, red steel door and stood to his full height, looking out of the steel bars. He could smell fresh blood and didn't like it, it was making his mouth water even more than it had when he smelled his human's blood.

The hunter slowly unlatched the door and made his way into the open after securing the large door behind him. He knew that the laughing was coming from the monkey thing and garbled out a growl. He smelled it coming and smelled the fresh blood on it. His eyes narrowed as the monkey thing came into his view and saw it carrying a human on it's back. The female from what he could see had long chocolate colored hair and wore a darkly colored sweat shirt, with blue jeans and tennis shoes. She looked dead, but maybe, just maybe she was unconscious.

The monkey thing laughed as it made its way over to the hunter, who looked on questioningly. The monkey thing just kept up its laughter and the hunter could smell blood on him and the human he carried. It was the human's blood more or less from what he figured, but he seemed disgusted by it. Maybe it was because he was used to his human's blood scent, he just didn't understand. He grumbled a hello to the monkey thing and it laughed a hello back at him.

He slowly looked over the monkey thing and saw that it wasn't in the same condition as it once was. It's normal, toothy grin, was replaced by a toothy frown. He tilted his head in confusion as the monkey thing started to explain what had happened when he had found the human. It explained that the human had been alone and only had a small bang stick on her. She had evidently been separated from her companions and maybe came back looking for the human that the hunter had taken in. That's what he thought at least.

The hunter gave a low snarl as if to say leave, but the monkey thing didn't want to leave the human in the open where the small stupid ones could get her. He evidently had some care for her, maybe she reminded him of the she creature that had clawed him for getting in the way of her kill. The other infected laughed as he explained the rest of how he found the human. He said that she had gotten attacked by a few of the small stupids and a long tongue. He saved her from the long tongue by hopping onto it's head instead of hers, breaking its grip on her. He then hissed a warning at the other creature before it ran off. The small stupids on the other hand were resuming the attack on her, though she had fallen down. She had used the small boom stick on them until it started clicking, that's when he stepped in and ran them off.

By the time the monkey thing had gotten back to her, she was already passed out. He had not known what to do in that time so he had brought the girl back to the hunter's den, in hopes that he could help in keeping her safe. The hunter let out an aggravated hiss. He didn't want to have to watch out for his human and the other one that the monkey thing now had. He let out a sigh as he looked from the den to his companion, knowing that he should help, but he didn't know how to. That was when he got a brilliant idea. He would awaken his human and get her to help her companion, it was all so simple! Yet he then thought of the trouble he took to hide her and growled to himself.

The hunter looked over the monkey thing and motioned for him to follow his lead into the den. He pointed to the pile of soft things that his human had first laid on before telling the other infected that he would be right back. He had to prepare himself, and his human for what was about to come. There was going to be some strife and a sorrowful reunion. He made his way through the storage area and to the small bed area. He gently opened the door and looked at his human who was still sound asleep. He went over and nuzzled into the place between her neck and shoulder, trying to awaken her.

The human stirred under his touch and turned to her side to slowly open her eyes and look at him. He made a soft whine sound as if he was sorry for waking her, but the matter at hand right now was urgent. He quickly moved away from her and pointed to the door. She looked paler than what she did when he first met her and it slightly startled him out of the urgent state. Something wasn't right with her yet after her sickness. He moved back to her as she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her eyes even seemed clouded by something that he didn't understand. Yet she was awake, that was all that mattered.

* * *

I awoke after having a dreamless sleep, to a soft nuzzle in my side that wasn't harmed by the charger. I opened my eyes slowly and everything was slightly blurry in my sleepy haze. I looked over to see my hunter sitting there and whine. He was evidently sorry for waking me up, but there was a slight urgency in his posture. He pointed to the door and I took a glance that way. He was evidently startled about something that I didn't know of. He moved closer to me as I swung my legs off of the bed, wanting to support me if I stumbled or fell.

I stood on shaky legs, both due to what I had endured and lack of nourishment. I rested my hand on the hunter's back to help steady myself. He stood slowly from his crouched position and wrapped a lanky arm around my waist to keep me up right. I smiled at him and he had concern in his strange eyes, for both me and whatever was going on out in the main room. He steadied me as I made shaky steps through the rest of the bed area and the storage room, yet he stopped before we reached the main room. He gurgled at me from in his throat and I stared at him. Something was definitely wrong and it worried me by the way he was staring at me.

He leaned down and gently nudged my forehead with his nose, as if to tell me to stay calm. It helped but I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I watched as he let out a small call and he got a laugh in return, a gurgled, maniacal laugh. My blood ran cold as the creature before me gazed up and tilted its head in slight confusion. There was a jockey in the safe haven that I had secured along with the hunter. I wanted to back away from the estranged infected, but the hunter's grip around my waist locked me in place as he gripped me tighter. What exactly was going on?

I looked up at the hunter with a fierce grimace on my face. "What the hell is going on?" My voice rasped as I looked him over before pointing to the jockey. This wasn't right in my mind, he had protected me from all of the other infected that had seemed to come our way, but this one he just stood there and let it into our safe place. He looked down at me with pleading eyes, that told me to trust him, yet I didn't know if I should. He let this thing in without warning to me and it hurt. I had trusted him to an extent that I probably shouldn't have, and he went and did this behind my back. I growled at him and moved myself out of his grasp, but not without stumbling.

"Is this what you were waiting for? To save me as a snack for one of your buddies and you?" I was angry and he knew it. The hunter shook his head as he pointed to himself and then the jockey then at me. He muttered softly and looked quite desperate as if he wanted to say something to me. He didn't know how to explain the situation and he growled lowly in his throat as I just watched. I was mortified, anger and fear were coursing through me. The hunter was starting to get annoyed as he moved to grab me, which he succeeded. He roughly pulled me to him and lifted me up, bridal style.

I screamed and kicked at him to put me down. He touched his nose to mine then and I froze. His cold eyes stared into mine as if telling me to listen before I jumped to conclusions. I calmed slightly as he made his way out of the storage room and into the main room, the jockey having moved to let us through. I looked around the well lit room, letting my eyes adjust to the plain white walls. I took a glance up at the hunter, watching where his eyes set as he put me back on my feet. I followed his eyes and saw something, scratch that, make that someone, I hadn't expected.

Veronica! I couldn't believe it! What was she doing here? How had she gotten back to the safe room she had left me in over a week ago? These questions flooded my mind as I went to her side. She looked dirty and bloody from head to toe. Her sweat shirt was ripped and so was her jeans. Small scratches covered the areas of skin that I saw and it made me wonder what had happened. I looked back at the jockey as I hissed through my teeth, "Did you do this to her?" My eyes scrutinized him as the culprit. My hunter looked down at him as he let out a gurgled laugh and then at me. He shook his head, unable to explain the story any farther due to the vocal barrier.

I only nodded and looked back at the girl in front of me. I saw her breathing was shallow, but steady. She was frightened when she had passed out, that much was evident. I kept my eyes on her as I spoke to the hunter, "I need my back pack." I took a glance back at him as he nodded and went to fetch it. I gently moved my hand up to sweep some of her dirty, chocolate hair out of her face. She was still beautiful even in the beat up condition she was in, any man would have wanted her when the world was still alive and well. I wished I had what she did at one point, but now we were as equal as anyone else.

My hunter nudged me as he left the bag my my side. I nodded my thanks to him as I slowly began to work on the girl. It took me about thirty minutes to patch up all of her wounds, none thankfully being serious. I smiled at my handy work as I wiped my brown of some sweat that had gathered there. I looked back at the two infected and nodded my head, in which they both let out a breath they seemed to be holding. I motioned the jockey over to me, who seemed reluctant to comply, but my hunter nodded to him when it looked to him for advice.

The jockey carefully walked over to me and I rested a gentle hand on his back. "Did you help her by bringing her here?" I asked softly. He nodded his head, a gleeful, almost scary, grin on his deformed face. He had on the remains of a blue shirt, and from what I could tell had a pair of black jeans. His hair was once a dark color, I could presume by the small patches that were left on his head. He was less deformed though from most jockeys I'd run into on my little journey, though the effects of the infection were present.

My mind was only on one thing as I stood up, food. My stomach gurgled as if to tell me that it was going to start eating itself if I didn't get anything soon. I chuckled softly as I looked at the two infected. "I guess I should get you guys something too." I smiled as I looked over at my hunter, who was already holding up a can of food. I took it from him and quickly opened it up, since it had a pop tab on it. I handed it back to him and he took it quickly, evidently he hadn't eaten a lot since I was out of commission. I then got out another can and opened it for our newest companion, and he looked at me strangely before lapping his tongue into the can, his eyes growing wide with the taste.

I then got myself some canned fruit. It was what I wanted right then and the savory, sweet fruit would give me some energy for a little while. I dug through the box and found something I hadn't expected to find. It was one of the bottled Starbucks vanilla coffees. My mouth started to water at the sight of it, it had been forever since I'd had a good drink of coffee. I opened it and quickly downed half of it, savoring the sweet vanilla flavor of it. My mouth was having an orgasm by the time I swallowed.

The two infected were looking at me as if I had grown a second head when I let out a soft moan. I didn't realize that I had and that was what made them stare. I chuckled softly, "It's been a long time since I've had coffee. It tastes pretty damn good though." I smiled at them as the jockey let out a laugh and my hunter purred his approval. I needed the energy that the coffee gave me though, I had to stay awake long enough to keep an eye on Veronica to see if she would wake up.

The only down side to her waking up though would be seeing me in here with two infected staring over my shoulder. I sighed as I looked over at the two of them, who were gurgling and chuckling at one another, having some sort of conversation. "Hey guys," I said as I got their attention. "I may need you to leave the room when she wakes up." They both tilted their heads at me in confusion so I explained, "She won't be happy seeing me in here with... you know you two." They still looked confused and I grunted in disappointment at what I had to say. "You guys are infected, and from what I remember, she's not all too fond of your kind."

The hunter seemed to get what I was saying and nodded his head, giving a few low growls to his companion, who then understood. They then made their way out of the safe room altogether. I sighed as I looked down at the sleeping girl before me. She looked almost peaceful and it made me smile sorrowfully. I didn't know what she would think when she woke up and it made me kind of nervous. I grabbed one of the extra sleeping bags and zipped it the whole way open, making it a make shift blanket. I threw it over her carefully and smiled as she did when the warmth hit her body. I wanted to give her this one comfort at least.

A few hours had passed and I was ready to go out of my mind in boredom. I wanted more sleep and relaxation from my aching body. My shoulder was throbbing with pain from where the charger had bit down. I didn't even want to look at it but I knew I had to clean it eventually, along with all the other cuts I had over my body. I gazed over my form and saw myself as pale, which wasn't at all normal and made me sigh. Maybe I was staying out of the sun way too long, or maybe it was because I dealt with the sickness the way I did.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when I heard a soft mumble and looked over at the patient that I had treated. She was stirring from her sleep, her green eyes gazing about in a haze. "Where... am I?" She spoke softly as she looked over at me. Shock enveloped her whole face as she could only stare. "Ravei?" Her eyes lit up with recognition.

* * *

A/N- I'm finally glad to get this chapter out to you guys! It feels like it's taken me years to do this one, I had such a bad case of writer's block it's not funny! Any way I hope you all like it! Please R&R!


	9. Chapter 9 Names Galore

Chapter 9 – Names Galore.

"Ravei? Is... Is it really you?" Veronica looked shocked to see me and it was justly so. Her face was pale with the recognition. "But... We... The guys and me..."

"Left me for dead? I know. It's not that hard to figure out." I smirked at her as she just looked on in shock. She took a look around at her surroundings, then her eyes came to rest upon the note that she had left for me on the wall. I couldn't help but chuckle as her face seemed to get paler.

"I came the whole way back here? After making it, by the skin of my teeth, away from the safe zone, I'm here?" She cursed under her breath as she stared blankly at the wall, almost in a daze.

"Yeah, seems that way, girlie." I lifted a hand up to my mouth, to cover some of my smile at her slightly dim-witted reply. Veronica seemed to keep her stare on the room around us, and she was shivering. I felt sort of relieved at taking her gun away from her when she came in here; she had a secret one attached under her hoodie, wrapped around her stomach. I found it while cleaning her wounds. She searched for it now and looked up at me before trying to stand on her own.

"Hold up there. You've got some scratches and stuff that need to heal before you can do that. Besides, I wouldn't want you to shoot at our saviors now would I?" She seemed to go into an even deeper trance as I spoke about 'saviors' in this apocalypse.

"There are more survivors?" Veronica questioned as she gave me a cold, acid-like stare. That question actually made me have to stop and think. Though I was angry at her, and knew that she wouldn't be happy with the outcome of our 'saviors' I had to tell her something.

That was when the chuckle and the low gurgle came from right outside of the safe room door. I rested my head on the heel of my palm and sighed. "Great timing you guys." I saw the hunter poke his head in first, glad that he was out of the other girl's view for now. I saw his pale eyes look me over and I gave him a soft glare and motioned for him, and his companion, to enter.

I saw terror in Veronica's eyes as she saw the two infected enter the room like they owned the place. The hunter came to me almost immediately, resting a clawed hand on my shoulder, yet not digging the claws into my flesh. The jockey then took a hunched seat at my feet, each staring at the girl before them. "Guys this is Veronica. Veronica, the guys, our saviors." Veronica just looked on in shock.

"What the hell is going on here?" She screeched out and made all three of us wince at the pitch of her voice. "Are you playing some kind of sick, twisted joke on me, Ravei?" Her green eyes were filled with hate and venom as she spoke to me. "Have you become infected?" Veronica stopped to search for her hidden weapon again and growled lowly when she couldn't find it.

"This is no joke. Hell, if it wasn't for this guy," I leaned forward and rested a hand on the jockey's shoulder, in which he looked over at me slowly before turning his gaze back to the other girl, "You would be dead." She seemed to snarl at the thought of it and shook her head. "I also patched up your wounds; you should make it out alright." I slowly stood up, using the hunter's shoulder as leverage.

I looked down at the jockey and smiled at him. "Can you watch her and make sure she gets rest?" He looked up at me with his toothy grin and nodded, seeming to be able to understand me a bit better. I still had to tend to the hunter and his wounds; it had just crossed my mind when I mentioned patching up Veronica. The hunter then reached out and pulled a ruined looking swatch of leather out of the jockey's back pocket. I looked at it as he handed it to me, the jockey not seeming to mind.

I slowly opened the ruined material and saw it was once an old wallet. There were a few chipped cards in one section of it but on the other side made me gasp. It was an identification card. The man in the picture had dark hair and a goatee, also wearing glasses with wire frames. I looked at the name and smiled softly, now knowing partially of who the jockey once was. The name on it read "Joshua Lee Garrix" he was twenty-six currently and an organ donator.

The hunter was now at his full height, looking over my shoulder. I smiled over at him as he hummed in his throat, had he known the man before he got the sickness? I gently nudged into him with my uninjured shoulder, "Did you know him like this?" He nodded and I chuckled at his enthusiasm. "Josh?" I said out loud, taking my eyes over the jockey. He looked up at me from his crouched position, tilting his head. He seemed to remember his name. "Josh." I spoke again and he let out a deep chuckling noise, possibly to say 'what.'

I looked over at the hunter before turning my gaze back to Veronica for a brief moment. "His name is Josh." I handed the wallet to her and she looked through it. "Anyway, Josh, keep an eye on her." I patted his hunched back before looking back at the hunter. "Let's get your wounds patched up." I picked up my backpack and made my way from the main room into the small bathroom and started to run water into the tub.

I smiled as the water came out luke warm; most places only had cold water anymore. I took a towel or two out of my pack, along with the unscented, medicated soap and a few wash cloths. The hunter was once again in his crouched position as he came into the bed room. He looked through the door at me and tilted his head, curious as to what I was doing. "This is how I'm going to clean you up." I nodded toward the bath I was drawing.

He seemed to tense when he noticed the running water, letting a throaty growl pass through his pointed teeth. "I thought it would be best if you got a full bath." I smiled as he narrowed his eyes at me. He hissed as I stood and started approaching him. It was obvious he did not want a bath, but he was getting one if I had any say in the matter. I got close enough to him that he could just reach out and claw me, then, I pounced.

I landed on him, knocking him onto his back. The hunter seemed shocked at how fast I actually moved and yelped when I landed on his torso. I was surprised at the force myself, but shrugged it off. "You are getting a bath, even if it kills me." I smirked down at his now, scowling face. He seemed to be relaxed though as I crawled off of him and helped him back into his crouched position.

He took one more look at the bath and growled but admitted defeat. The hunter slowly stood to his full height and looked down at me as I looked up at him. He slowly and gently put a claw on the zipper of his hoodie and shrugged it off, revealing the Mountain Dew shirt he wore under it. It was in a bad condition, an older shirt probably.

The hunter then motioned to me to help him with his shirt. He showed me his claws then pointed to his shirt and shook his head. He didn't want to rip it with his claws is what I thought. "Hold your arms above your head." I spoke quietly as he obeyed. I grabbed the bottom of the shirt lightly and turned my head as I started to lift it. I freed him from the fabric and looked him over slowly.

His skin was the color of pure ivory, due to the sickness, yet bore no boils that most of the other, more mutated infected did. One could still see the muscle definition in his chest and stomach, and especially in his arms. He had a wound in his left arm from a gunshot, most likely from when one of my former companions had shot at him. I then turned him to examine the wound from the witch on his back. It was healing over nicely, but it would leave a scar. As I looked it over, I also saw how toned his back was, just like his front.

I then made my way over to the toilet, closed the lid and sat down. "Sit on the edge of the tub, so I can get your shoes." The hunter did as I asked once again, sitting on the edge and looking nervously down into the water. I bent and lifted one of his legs up to rest on my knee and I could just feel how powerful they were. I undid the grimy shoe string and gently removed the shoe, noticing that he had claws on his toes. They were shorter than the ones on his hands, and had torn holes through his once white socks. I removed what was left of the sock and switched to do the same with his other foot.

The flesh on his feet was clammy and that same pale tone as the rest of his skin, but they were soft. His toes were kind of short and I chuckled to myself at the thought that popped into my head. He looked at me strangely as I explained. "From Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits," He kept his stare on me, "you have feet like theirs." I chuckled as he glared. "Hobbit feet!" He playfully swiped at my hair, knocking it out of my face.

"This next part is going to be interesting." I mumbled to myself and bit my lip. The hunter seemed to understand as he looked down at me and gave a pointed-toothed smirk. He was going to embarrass the hell out of me. "Don't tell me these are your favorite pants." He seemed to let out a gurgled laugh and I rested my face in my hands as he nodded. "Great."

I looked around the bathroom and picked up one of the towels I had laid out. "Here, wrap this around your waist, so we can at least keep some sort of dignity." He did as I said and held the towel closed with one hand. I lowered myself onto my knees as he stood tall. "Well here it goes…" I swallowed hard as I moved my hands under the towel to the fly of his jeans. I undid the button and the zipper, pulling bot the pants and whatever kind of underwear, down to his ankles, in which he stepped out of them.

This was the most embarrassed I'd felt in a long time. Standing in front of me was a basically nude, good looking guy. Well, he would have been at one point, before the infection. So many thoughts were running through my head at the thought of this person before me, some bad, some good, and some that were down right perverted and made my cheeks burn. I shook my head as he let out a soft gurgle, coming back to reality. He looked me over nervously and I smiled at him.

I picked up one of the wash cloths and handed it to him. "Cover your private area with this when you're in the tub. I'll turn so you can get in." I turned my back to him, hearing the sloshing of the water as the hunter sat down. God, I was so tempted to look while he was getting in. He rasped something and I turned back to him.

The tub was a little smaller than I first thought; the hunter had to bend his knees to even keep his legs in it. Seeing he had himself covered, I moved to sit by the tub and grabbed the other was cloth, along with the soap, and lathered it up. Dirt was already filling the tub before I started scrubbing, starting with his wounds. I was very gentle with the tender flesh, but I knew the soap stung when I heard him hiss while cleaning the witch's scratches. They weren't as bad looking after all the grime was cleaned away.

I then started on the gun shot, noticing the flesh wasn't healing as nicely. "I think that the bullet may still be lodged in there." I spoke softly to him, and he nodded, looking at the wound. I looked back to my back before setting the wash cloth down and searching through it. I had to have a knife in there; I never left home without one. I finally found it in one of the front pockets.

"This may sting a little." I slowly, and carefully, dug the knife into the bullet wound. It took a great deal of precision to find the metal, but when I did, the hunter hissed in pain. "Sorry." I said apologetically. I slowly worked the knife to the bullet, pulling it closer to the surface. "Almost got it..." I whispered as I finally pulled it the whole way out and onto my awaiting hand.

I tossed the metal to the side and thoroughly cleaned the wound. I thought to myself for a few seconds as I wrung the wash cloth out, cleaning it of the dried blood. I wanted to know the hunter's name, yet he didn't even know mine. I lathered the wash cloth and smiled at him as he watched my face. "My name is Ravei. Ravei Lynn Meyers." I was quiet for a second as he nodded, a purring coming from his throat as I took the wash cloth to it.

The hunter smiled at me, raising a clawed hand out of the water to point at his old clothes. "No, not yet, you're still in need of cleaning." I took his hand and scrubbed it gently. He shook his head and yanked the hand away as he pointed to his clothes again, with more emphasis. I sighed softly, "Well, if you're so insistent on getting out of the tub, clean the rest of you, yourself."

I put the rag on his hand and then picked up his dirty clothes, carrying them out of the bathroom with me. "There are towels in there to dry yourself when you're done too." I threw the clothes down in the corner closest to the door to the main room and moved to sit on the bed. I found the clothes I had lain out for the hunter, where I had laid them on the bed, though they were rumpled from me sleeping on it.

I sighed when I heard the water sloshing and the step of wet feet on the tile. The hunter stalked from the bathroom, dripping wet with a towel around his waist, and glared at me. He marched over to his dirty clothes and picked up the dark hoodie. Digging his hand into the front pockets, he pulled out a thick leather wallet and flung it at me before stalking back into the bathroom. The wallet hit me in the arm and I jumped as it impacted. I looked down at it and reached for it with a shaky hand.

I listened to the slosh of water as the hunter got back in the bath. I sighed as I took in the wear of the black leather that rested in my palm. The one question that had been on my mind for a while now was his name. My answer was going to reveal itself as soon as I opened it. Yet, I was afraid at what I would find in there.

I sat the wallet aside for now and smiled to myself. He wanted me to know his name for telling him mine. I slowly stood up and walked back into the bathroom, the hunter's gaze coming to meet mine. "I'll look at your name later. I forgot the most important thing of being the medic of the group, tending to my patient." I smiled at him and he gave me a toothy grin back as I walked over and took my seat back at the side of the tub as he handed me the soapy wash cloth.

A/N – It's finally out! I hope ya'll are ready to read it, it took me forever to come up with some sort of plot for this one; I have no idea what I'm going to do for the next one XD. But I hope you all enjoyed this part of Howls of Devastation and I hope you continue to read. Your reviews are very welcome! I love reading them! That's all for now!


	10. Chapter 10 Howl of Devastation

Chapter 10 – Howl of Devastation.

I had finished bathing the hunter and patched up his wounds. I was surprised that his hair had stayed that dark red color after washing it. I also got him into his new clothes, but he refused to give up his hoodie. Veronica was now asleep, and Josh was about there as well. He had watched over the girl though, and I was grateful that he hadn't tried to eat her or anything. I was now digging through the box of food, noticing we were very low on supplies; there were only three or so cans of food and four bottles of water. I'd most likely have to go on a food run, but I was getting tired myself and I still wanted to clean my own wounds.

That was when the idea hit me; I could send the hunter out to get more. I walked into the back room and got my back pack, emptying it on the bed. I couldn't believe how much lighter it was while empty. Before I could even call for him, my hunter was crouched at my side, looking at the various items my pack had once held. I smiled down at him and he turned his gaze at me, he almost looked normal without the crusted on blood around his mouth and his dark red hair not matted and hanging freely into his face. "Hey, feel better now?" I spoke quietly as he turned his gaze back to the bed full of objects. He nodded slowly, keeping his gaze firm.

"I hate to ask," I bit my thumb nail and kept my eyes on him, "but a supply run has to be made if we're going to stay here for a longer while." The hunter turned his gaze back to me and I smiled softly at him. "Do you think maybe you could go out and get what's needed?"

He only looked at me, his eyes seeming to question why I was asking him to do it. "I need to clean up my own wound, and Josh needs sleep. You on the other hand are all refreshed and bandaged well." I chuckled softly, "And we wouldn't want to send Veronica anywhere, because she wouldn't come back to us." He smiled at my comment and nodded his head at my argument.

I gently reached out and stroked the hunter's hair, in which he leaned in and purred about. "Just carry as much canned goods and bottled water in here as you can. Get a little something for yourself and Josh too." He smiled up at me as I held out the pack for him. He flung his arms through the straps then rested his elbows on his knees. "Try one of the small grocery stores on the main stretch before going to anything bigger." He nodded and bounded off, and soon I heard the steel door close. "Good luck." I whispered.

I pulled one of the outfits I got from the back room of the soap store out of the mess on the bed, as well as one of the soaps I picked for myself, a towel, washcloth and the hunter's wallet. I drew the bath for myself after rinsing away what dirt his bath had left behind. I couldn't have been cleaner than he was before the bath. I slowly started to undress, being careful of my injured shoulder, and then undoing the bandages around it.

The mark the charger left with me was deep, and would leave a scar. I could have sworn I saw one of my veins pulsate as I looked it over, but what I couldn't figure out is why it was healing over so nicely. It had me confused, and somewhat astonished. Whatever the hunter had put on it before wrapping it was working wonders. I smiled softly at the thought and slowly stuck my toe into the water, which felt great.

I let myself slowly slide into the tub and relaxed. Almost immediately I saw dirt start to cloud the water from how filthy I'd gotten within the past few weeks. I really saw how much paler I'd gotten when I lifted my leg out of the water; the change was almost drastic. I was always tan in the summer, so seeing the paleness made me inwardly gasp, something was wrong. It may have been from the bite. If that was how the infection was spread, it made me wonder why I wasn't running rampant and groaning at everything like the commons.

Maybe that's the reason I accepted Josh so quickly, because I was turning. No. I wiped that thought away as quickly as it came to me. I wouldn't lose my life to the infection after battling it for three long weeks. I smiled to myself with new found confidence, and ran a hand down the leg I was looking at, getting more dirt off of it.

I let myself relax a little more in the water and looked to the side of the tub, seeing the hunter's wallet. I reached out for it and brought it to rest in both of my hands. One of my main questions was finally in my grasp. I bit my lip as I opened the dark leather, looking through the middle section of cards before resting my eyes on the third section.

A very handsome, dark red haired, pristine blue eyes and a half smiling man looked back at me from the driver's license. Some of his hair was hanging in his face, while the rest was pulled back into a pony tail to keep it off of his neck. It seemed picture perfect to me now that I saw what he looked like before the infection: though his body wasn't as ravaged as badly as the others.

I then searched for his name, having to pull he license out to do so. My eyes had to have been as big as plates when it came into my view. Thorne Xanthos Lowell. Those three words kept playing through my head. I finally had a name that went with the face I had come to know. From what I saw he was around 25 and 6'5", almost a foot taller than me. I smiled as I put the license back into its original spot, and then looked in the money pocket, seeing some bills and other pictures. I pulled the pictures out and looked through them, being curious.

In the first of the pictures, he was standing in a back yard with his arm around the shoulders of a shorter, bright red haired girl, with his other hand on a man's shoulder who was sitting in a wheel chair. Turning it around, the back read 'Thorne, Josh and Maya.' It was pretty evident that the girl, Maya, was related to him, just by the eye color and hair.

The next picture I pulled out was one of Thorne holding up a beer can with Josh by his side, and a dark haired girl leaning up and kissing his cheek. This brought up something in me and I quickly moved onto the next picture, which was folded in half. I opened it and gasped. Thorne was down on one knee, holding up a little black box to the same dark haired girl, who looked shocked and about ready to cry. "He was engaged?" I said out loud to myself and put the pictures back into the wallet, flinging it aside. What was coming over me?

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and continued with my bath. It was hard to get my mind off of part of the life Thorne had before the infection. I'd have to ask him some simple questions when he got back. There was also the strange feeling I got when I remembered the dark haired girl in the pictures. No, it couldn't be. Was I jealous? I shook the thought away as I finished washing myself.

After drying myself off and applying new bandages to my wounds, I slipped on the outfit, which consisted of boot cut blue jeans and an off the shoulder purple top. I thanked my choice as the wound was on the same side as the shoulder less part of the shirt.

That was when I heard it. The sound was almost deafening as it was so close. A gun had been fired too close for comfort. I ran out into the main room as I gasped. Josh was on the floor, his eyes opened fully, looking shocked, and his mouth in a twisted frown. A bullet hole was in the middle of his forehead, and blood was seeping from it. I then saw the wielder of the gun, the barrel still smoking from the one shot it put into my new companion's head. I couldn't shake the fear and anger out of me as I looked at the marksman. "Veronica!"

The hunter leaped from roof top to roof top, looking for the closest place he could get the items his human had requested. He kept his eyes open and his ears listening. There were a few of the stupid ones wandering about, but that was normal. He was also wondering if she had looked through his piece of leather to see what his name was. He'd remembered it after he saw it himself and saw what he once looked like before he had gotten infected.

Thorne leaped to the ground and bounded into the small store. He looked around until he found the canned goods and moved over to them. Not taking the time to read the labels, he just piled the cans into the backpack. After that he started to search for water. He grabbed some of the bottled waters when something glimmering in the dim lighting caught his eye.

The ring continued to glitter as he picked up the silver band with a small diamond on it. Thorne stared at it for a moment before clutching his head with his free hand. He was delving into another memory, and he feared this one would hurt more than the others.

_He was standing in her house, with Josh ready with a camera. They both knew that the woman they were waiting on would walk in at any moment. Thorne was jittery with excitement and yet fear if the woman didn't respond to his proposal or declined it._

_ "Dude, just relax. If she loves you as much as you do her, she'll say yes." Josh said softly to reassure his fidgety friend. Throne nodded and took a deep breath. That's what he had always liked about Josh; he was smart and always knew what to say when it needed to be said._

_ Thorne was still anxious though. He smiled slightly as he heard the front door open and then close, knowing the woman had gotten home from work. He was dressed in a pair of nice jeans, a nice, professional looking shirt and black sneakers for this occasion. They had been dating for around three years, and now he thought would be a better time to ask her than ever, since summer was just around the corner._

_ The woman, with her dark hair pulled back into a messy pony tail, did not see the two men in her living room immediately. Her heels clacked on the floor as she made her way into the kitchen to drop her purse and keys on the table, getting a bottle of v8 out of the refrigerator. Thorne didn't know why she liked the stuff; when he tried one he felt like he was downing a bottle of ketchup._

_ She had capped the bottle of vegetable juice and turned to go into the living room and gasped, dropping the bottle at seeing the two familiar faces, though it caught her by surprise. "You two scared me half to death!" She spoke in a gritty voice, which was always like that._

_ Both of the men smiled at her as she started to walk over toward Thorne to embrace him. Josh got the camera ready as his friend lowered to one knee when she was just a foot away. Thorne pulled a black, velvet box out of his back jean pocket and presented it to her. "Elizabeth Marie Schooly," He paused as he opened the box, revealing a small diamond ring to her, "Will you marry me?" The woman, Eliza, looked shocked beyond belief as Josh snapped the picture before she made her decision._

_ "Yes, yes I will Thorne!" She smiled giddily as he slid the ring onto her left ring finger. Thorne rose up and Eliza wrapped her arms around his neck, him wrapping his around her waist, spinning her in a circle. Josh smiled in happiness for his two friends. "I've got to go call your sister and tell her!" Eliza smiled as he put her down on her feet._

_ "She should already know; you know how Maya is." Thorne smiled at his new fiancée as she grinned back at him before bouncing off. "I can't believe she said yes!" He laughed nervously as he looked over at his friend._

_ "I told you it would be alright, dude." Josh smiled. It was only about a few weeks after that, when the world went to hell, when the Green Flu broke out. Thorne and Josh were going to a tuxedo shop to pick out their wedding attire when they encountered it. Everything was coming back to him so quickly, he lost track of time._

Tears were rolling down Thorne's face when he came out of the dream like state. He held his head in his hands as the tears fell, raspy sobs making their way out of his throat. "Elllliiiiizzzzaaaaa…" His vocal cords managed to rasp out. Maybe that was why he felt so attracted toward his human, because she reminded him so much of his now, unknown, fiancée. It hurt deeper than he could imagine, because he had not known what had happened to her, and his family, as well as his other friends.

Thorne knew though, that he had to get back to Ravei, back to Josh and the new human. He wiped his tears on his sleeves, secured the back pack's contents and lashed it onto his back quickly. He bounded off as quickly as he could; making it back to the den in half the time it took him to get to the store.

That was when he heard it though. The sound pierced through his ears like a sonic boom. It had come from close, from behind closed doors. The gun shot was deafening. He picked up his pace and broke into the safe room door, his eyes wide in horror as he saw his human, the new female and his friend, whom was bloodied and lifeless on the floor.

I quickly looked up as Thorne burst into the safe room, but just as quick turned my gaze back on the culprit of the mortal wound that was inflicted on my new found companion. "Why, Veronica, why?" I ground out through my teeth as I stared at her. Her arm was shaking, as was most of her body, her own eyes wide.

"Why the hell do you think why, Ravei?" She almost yelled at me, slowly starting to loosen her grip on the pistol which she had found. Her green eyes were pools of acid as they stared back at me, and then turned to my hunter. "He was fucking _infected_, that's why!" Her breathing was ragged as she flicked her tongue over her bottom lip.

"That gives you no god damn reason for shooting him though!" I growled at Veronica. "He put his own damn life on the line so he could save yours and bring you here for help!" I was burning with rage, shaking with it even. She had a look of astonishment on her face as he stared at me, her own body shaking. Thorne on the other hand had removed the back pack and went over to his deceased friend.

He cradled Josh in his arms like a baby, letting his head rest on his friend's chest. I could see the tears falling from his eyes, even though his face was shadowed by his hood. "Oh god… this is my fault…" I heard Veronica mutter as she stared at the floor. She was still shaking and I had my head turned when she decided to do something that I didn't think she was capable of doing.

Veronica put the gun into her mouth, cocking it. "I'm sho shorry." She whispered as she set her finger on the trigger. "I dhon't want to bechome one of sthem." She pulled the trigger then, right as I turned back to stare at her, Thorne doing the same. That second gun shot rang out, and chunks of skull, tissue, hair and brain burst back onto the sleeping bags from the back of her head.

My eyes were wide as I stared in shock. "Veronica!" My tone was stressed as I spoke up. I felt tears welling up in my own eyes. Yes, I was angry with her, for leaving me and for doing what she did to Josh, but she was still like family to me. She was my sister, and I was crying for the loss of both my new companion and her as well. "Oh god no!" I shouted. I fell to my knees and rested my head in my hands, tears streaming down my cheeks by this point.

I turned my gaze to Thorne as he shook his head, his own body shaking. He let out one of those telltale hunter shrieks as he bounded out of the safe room, leaving me there on the floor to cry to myself. I could have used my own comfort right there, but I knew that he was suffering way more than I was. He had known Josh since before the infection that would have been a deeper cut than I could have ever imagined.

Yet I felt it too. I knew what it was like to lose my best friends, yet I didn't have them taken from me like he had. He had his friend taken from him twice for all I knew. I looked up at the ceiling and let my tears run freely as a sound echoed into the safe room through the open door. That sound I will never forget, for it sent chills up my spine and made me actually have to think about what was going on. It hurt me to hear that, because I knew it was Thorne. He was howling, but it wasn't just any howl.

It was a howl of devastation.


	11. Chapter 11 I'm Going Home

Chapter 11- I'm Going Home.

It had been about an hour or so since the first fatal gunshot was fired. Thorne had not returned yet, and I was huddled up in a ball between the bed and the wall. I didn't know what to do right then and there. I felt so lost, so confused. My mind and body were hurting, from grief and being alone in that grief. I hadn't been deprived of this kind of need for comfort since I left home and found the other survivors.

I knew Thorne was grieving in his own way though. He wanted to be alone in this time. My mind still wondered how he felt by losing Josh for a second time. It had to hurt though, more than any words could convey. What about his fiancée and that other girl though, and the rest of his family and friends? Most likely dead, infected, or hopefully, made it to an evac site.

Family… I missed my own. My mom, my sisters, my dad, my three nieces, I missed them all. I wondered where they all were right now. Hopefully they were all safe, but I couldn't push my luck with that one. I knew my nieces were prone to get sick, one was sick, the other two were sick as well. My one sister would catch it from them. My other sister had a bad immune system, and lived in the town I was now alone in. My dad and mom were away so I didn't know how they were fairing. Maybe there was hope for them though, my mom more so since she never seemed to get sick.

My mom… didn't the guys in my dream say that she was coming home? Did that mean that she was okay, alive, and immune? Maybe, just maybe I had some sort of family alive. First though, I had to see if my sister was alive; she only lived a few blocks away from the safe room. Before that though, I had to get Thorne back here and get my things ready to travel once more. I also had to do something about the bodies that were in the main room, but I'd need Thorne's help with that too.

I slowly stood and made my way to the main room, not looking at the bodies of my dead companions. I grabbed my back pack as the safe room door swung open. A man in a dark, hooded sweat shirt and sharp fangs stood there. His lifeless, pasty blue eyes stared down at me, and salty tear stains were evident on his cheeks.

He watched me for a few seconds before falling to his knees and holding his hands up in front of him. I let my grip go on my back pack as I reached over and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, his head resting in the crook of my neck. He wrapped his arms around my torso tightly and muttered unintelligibly into me. "Thorne." I spoke softly and he seemed to shudder at hearing his name slip out of my mouth.

He looked up at me with those sad, pale eyes and all I saw was hurt and maybe a slight longing. "Thorne." I spoke softly once again and he kept his gaze on me for a second before nuzzling back into the crook of my neck. I pushed his hood back and ran my fingers through his dark red tresses. "I'm glad though, to know I have you as a friend, and I'm happy you trusted me with your name."

I could feel him purring as he pulled away from me and sat on his haunches. He pointed to me and smiled as he opened his mouth. A raspy sound came from his throat as he spoke. "Rrrraaavvveeeii." I was shocked beyond belief as the word that formed from that rasp was my name. I smiled at him and nodded.

I stood and grabbed my back pack once again, putting some of the food and water into the box of food stuffs and keeping some in there for travel. I then put the bag down and looked behind myself at the mess the fatal gun shots had caused. "We have to clean this mess up, they're going to start smelling soon." I turned my gaze to Thorne and he nodded. "There are plenty of sleeping bags in here, we can wrap their bodies in them. We should probably burn them though, so nothing gets after them." I nodded, as did Thorne.

We started with Josh first, since he was the least mutilated of the two. I cleaned the wound to the best of my ability while Thorne pulled out one of the sleeping bags. We laid him in it carefully and sipped it shut so that he couldn't be seen. We then did the same with Veronica. We cleaned up what bits and pieces we could find of her skull and other matter, then zipped her into the sleeping bag I'd let her sleep on.

I had Thorne look in the back for a box of matches and something flammable. He found what seemed to be a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a box of matches, as I asked. We then took the bodies out of the safe room and laid them in the street, which was clear of commons.

I said a silent prayer for our deceased friends and then dumped the contents of the bottle onto the sleeping bags. Solemnly, I lit the match I pulled out first and threw it onto the bodies. Thorne and I sat there in silence as the flames caught, flickered and burned. We watched it for a good few minutes and it reminded me of the bonfires I used to have with my friends back home. Gods how I missed the good times just goofing off with them.

Thorne led the way back inside and I sighed. I didn't know how to tell him that I wanted to go check on my sister and then head back to my house. I picked up my back pack once again as we were safe from the outside world again. I made my way, kind of sluggishly, to the bedroom. Gathering my things into the bag, I heard Thorne chirp up behind me.

"Rrrraaavvveeeiii?" He spoke with that raspy tone as he pointed toward what I was doing. A questioning look was plastered to his face.

"I…" Drawing in a breath, I chose my words carefully. "I want to go check on someone." I put the back pack down and turned fully toward him. "My older sister, Shelby, Lived in this town, a few blockes up from here; I want to see if she made it out or became infected." I spoke truthfully as I eyed the hunter before me.

"Sssissstteerrr?" He looked down in thought for a moment before turning those pasty blue eyes toward me again. "Mmmmaaayyyyaaa…" It was his sister, that girl in the picture with him and Josh. That just left the mystery of who his fiancée was. I was very curious as to how she stole his heart and why I was so jealous of her. Was I really jealous of what she had with Thorne, or just the fact that I may be starting to like him in a way that was more than just friendly?

No, get back to reality, Ravei. I smiled at him, and then went back to arranging my things. "I also want to go back to my house." I said quietly and I heard Thorne whimper. I smiled as I turned back to him. "I want you to come with me though." His concerned look changed into a happy one as he nodded, smiling toothily at me.

"I can't leave you by yourself, I wouldn't even if I was being forced. We've been through so much together already, so I'm gonna be by your side until the end." I could only smile at him as he bounced in place in happiness. I finished gathering up my things and picked up my weapons before relaxing for a little. I opened one of the water bottles for myself, and Thorne opened his own. "To us, surviving this mess." I held up my water bottle and he got what I was doing. He raised his own bottle to tap it against mine. "Cheers."

We then packed up and headed out. Thorne watched for danger from the roof tops as I made my way on the streets. I had my naginata out instead of my shot gun or pistol, since it didn't make as much noise if I ran into any infected. There were a few of the commons here and there, but none that I couldn't sneak around. I just hoped that there weren't any tanks, chargers or even boomers around.

I didn't want the boomers just for the fact their bile attracted the horde. Besides that fact, the smell of the bile was enough to make me vomit myself. Also the fact that when you got it on you, it would blind you and make you sticky, like someone spilled soda on you, for a few long minutes. It was a kind of hell within the bigger hell we were forced into, especially if you were female and wanted to stay clean, or as clean as you possibly could.

I was shaken from my thoughts as I heard a screech from above me and stopped. Thorne dropped down beside me and pushed me closer to the wall. "What is it?" I whispered to him and he looked upward at the building across from us. Listening carefully, I heard a deep, hacking cough. "Smoker." I hushed out as I saw the looming figure look down from the roof top before us.

The smoker's long tongue hung out of his mouth as his smoke cloud puffed out of his many tumors in green waves. His skin, from what I could see, was around the same color as Thorne's , not the dirty, greenish kind that most smokers had. His good eye searched the alley for us. He was most likely looking for a snack out of me than to cause any sort of harm to the hunter that was protecting me. The smoker stayed there for a few more tense moments before hobbling away. After he was far enough gone for Thorne's taste, we started on our way again, toward my sister's apartment.

It was about another block before we finally rounded onto the street where my sister lived. I held my breath as we neared closer, and closer to it, hoping she, her husband and their free-loading roommate were alright. I turned into the small alley that led to the apartment's door, ascending the stairs. I knew Thorne was right behind me and I smiled back at him, but knew he was on edge, due to the smoker incident earlier.

I rested my hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it, hearing the soft 'click' as it swung inwards. The apartment was silent and I let out the breath I was holding. I knew that nothing was here. They were gone. Or so I thought until I heard the soft moans of a common, and sluggish foot steps from the extra room above us.

I made my way over to the door that was in her and her husband's bedroom. Turning the knob, I heard the footsteps stop. Quietly, I ascended the small stair case and looked through the bars on the railing. Two dead bodies lay on the floor, and one infected stood among them both. Shelby and her husband were decaying on their own floor. The only one the infection took hold of was their roommate, Teagon's older brother, and one of my own friends, Norton.

His shaggy, brown hair hung down in his face, and blood was smeared the whole way around his mouth, even running down his chin and throat. It was horrible seeing him in this state, it made me want to rip, the ones who put the virus out, in two. I held my breath as his milky, white eyes looked my way. I knew Thorne was right behind me, like an attack dog ready to go at my word. I let the breath out as he turned away and continued to stumble about.

I couldn't believe it had come to this. I was going to be forced to kill another friend to save him from the infection. I pulled my pistol out of its holster, which was strapped around my thigh. I raised it between the rails and aimed at his head. Exhaling slowly, I pulled the trigger and released the bullet which hit its mark.

Norton fell over lamely and I put the gun back into its place. I shook my head and sat down on the stairs, resting my head in my hands. I knew my sister, brother-in-law and friend were dead in the same room I now sat. It hurt, very much and all of this pain was starting to make me very emotionally shot. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders and I leaned into the touch. I moved my arms around his torso and rested my head on his chest. He smelled great, I had to admit, and I adored the warmth and comfort he gave me. I could stay like this forever.

I really didn't want the moment to end. I felt so safe with Thorne and I really didn't know how I should feel besides that. Sighing, I released my grip on him and smiled. "We should get going, we've got a ways to go to get to my car and then my house." He nodded as I stood up and walked down into my sister's old bedroom once more.

Giving the bedroom a once over, I found her old jewelry box. I walked over to it and found what I was looking for after a few short moments of digging. I pulled from it a blackened steel cross necklace with amethyst stones in it. I had always loved this necklace since she first wore it at her wedding, two years ago.

I stopped reminiscing and threw it around my neck, making sure it clasped. Turning to Thorne, who had a strange look on his face at my discovery, I smiled. "It's a keep sake, to remember her by." Yes, I was upset that my sister was gone, but I knew I had to keep going. We headed out soon after. Thorne once more took to the roof tops as I made my way on the ground. Yet, I had the strangest feeling we were being watched.

A/N- Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to get this one out, staying with my boyfriend when he has no internet besides on his xbox live is a hassle and when I come home playing world of warcraft to fill my addiction void from when I'm with him and yeah… time consuming ^.^ But hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and sorry about the slight cliff hanger =P


	12. Chapter 12 On The Road Again

Chapter 12- On The Road Again.

Thorne looked down upon the human he was protecting and smiled to himself. This girl wasn't like his Eliza; she was stronger, in both mind and body from what he had seen from her of late. He wasn't sure of exactly how to think about her though. She evidently wasn't afraid to show her tears, yet she still held her emotions back behind a wall. He'd have to find a way to break down that wall, but he'd worry about that later.

He was still on edge about the long-tongue they had run into earlier. There was just something wrong with it. The thing had to have seen the two of them but it hadn't done anything. That is what made Thorne so wary of the creature, the fact that it hadn't attacked. Maybe it was just his presence that scared it away; he was stronger than it physically.

The hunter shook away the thoughts as he leaped onto another roof, making sure the girl was in his sight. He remembered a few things about when he met her, how hostile she was, how good she smelled to him, how amazing she actually is. He remembered how when she was sick how he took care of her to the best of his ability. Thorne wasn't sure of the feeling welling up inside of him as he remembered, but he felt something in him skip a beat.

No, Ravei was nowhere near like Eliza. She was better, in most every way, for Eliza never would have held onto a dirty, probably smelly, blood covered creature and comfort it like Ravie had. Eliza had always had her nose shoved into the air, he couldn't even think of how he had fallen in love with her, let alone want to marry her. He even thought that the only bloody thing Eliza would hug would be herself at her 'time of the month.'

Thorne sighed softly and turned his gaze back to his human who was hiding in a small alley, but she was beckoning to him to come down. Evidently she had something to say or she wouldn't have stopped. He slowly started to get his mind back on track and leaped down from his high perch. He landed beside his human effortlessly.

I sighed to myself as Thorne and I started moving again. I could feel the weight of the cross hanging around my neck. The memento was special to me though, made me feel as if my sister was still here and had just given it to me herself. I smiled at the thought as I looked up to see where Thorne was. I saw him leap across an alley to another roof top and saw something was off with him. I didn't know how I knew that something was wrong, but I could just feel it.

I could also feel my energy draining. When was the last time I slept? I think it was before the whole Veronica kills things episode. I pulled out my can of tobacco and stuck one of the pouches in my mouth and cursed as it was my last one. I knew that it would keep me awake a bit longer though since I actually had myself occupied with something other than killing the few commons that roamed around. I tossed the can to the side of the road, glad that it didn't make a loud clanging sound as I kept moving.

Turning my gaze back up to Thorne on the roof tops, I stopped to study him for a second. He had to be getting tired; he had been up way longer than I had been. It was probably due time for a break as is since we ran a few blocks. I glanced around the area before finding a building that looked suitable for staying in for a few hours.

"Thorne!" I whisper yelled to my guardian above. He froze as soon as he heard my voice and I motioned for him to join me. He did so effortlessly and looked at me with slight confusion. "I think we should take a quick break." I smiled at his crouched form. "Get a little cat nap or something." He gave me a kind of look that just asked 'Are you crazy?'

I smiled at him, "You haven't slept for a while and I'll be fine keeping watch." Though I was tired myself, I wouldn't let harm come of either of us. Thorne gave me a skeptical look before nodding as we walked into the building, which happened to be a small convenience store. I let me search around to make sure that there was nothing lurking in the shadowed aisles. He gave me a nod that the store was clear so I started to look around.

The first place I went to was behind the counter to look at what kind of tobacco the store had in stock. I felt lucky as I scanned the circular containers and found my two favorite flavors of mint and berry. I threw as many as I could into my back pack and then started to look at the counter itself. I found at least ten energy shot drinks and was very happy I did. I was going to need them if I was going to stay awake long enough for Thorne to get a decent bit of rest. I finished my search of the counter area and moved on to the rest of the shop.

I looked through the small aisles, though most of the little snacks were past date. There were a few canned goods, but none of them had a label of what they were. I then checked the refrigerated section and could just smell the sour milk that rested on its shelves. The sodas and waters would probably be alright for a little while longer though.

I opened one of the glass doors, ignoring the smell to the best of my ability, and pulled a Voltage Mountain Dew from it. I spit the pouch of tobacco out onto the floor and popped open the bottle, taking a long swig from it. A chill went up and down my spine as I tasted the sweet liquid, as it always did. I smiled at the bottle and then took another gulp.

Walking back to the front of the store, I saw Thorne there, playing with what looked to be a lighter. I watched him jump over the counter effortlessly and start looking through the smoking tobacco. His eyes scanned the shelves before they stopped. He reached out and pulled a longer, rectangular box from the shelf. I tilted my head as I watched him open it and pull out a wrapped cigar. He held it up to his nose and drew in a deep breath before smiling at his find.

"So… You like cigars?" I mused as he jumped at the sound of my voice. He fumbled the cigars and quickly turned toward me, catching them as he let out a soft growl. Had I really snuck up on him that badly? Hell, how do you even sneak up on a hunter? Thorne let out a breath and then nodded his head as he looked down at the cigar again. "Do you remember how to smoke one?" I asked and he seemed to go deep into thought as if he were trying to recall something.

Thorne was shifting through the counter area and had found something vaguely familiar to him. He picked up the small, square object and spun the little wheel on it, a sudden burst of flame coming up from it. He muttered to himself at the find and tilted his head curiously as he did it again. He recalled a name for it, a lighter, and smiled at the familiarity of it in his fingers.

Shifting his weight, he moved swiftly over the counter as he looked through the boxes that were on the shelves behind it. He let his eyes wander as he searched, soon looking lower on the shelf and finding what he wanted. He opened the small, rectangular box and pulled a cylindrical tube from it, slowly lifting it to his nose. He inhaled a sweet scent from it and closed his eyes in remembrance.

A noise then startled him as he looked up to see his human standing there. She had asked him a question and he nodded in response. He wondered though how she had snuck up on him the way she did. He twiddled the cylinder in his fingers as she asked another question, to which he had to think about.

_Thorne smiled as he looked over at one of his old drinking buddies, puffing slowly on a cigar. He smirked as his friend handed him one as well. "I know you haven't smoked one of these before, Thorne, but it's just like a cigarette in a few ways. You just don't breathe it in as deeply." The older man demonstrated by drawing in a short breath before letting it go._

_ "Eh, can't be too hard, can it Rich?" Thorne smirked at his buddy as he flicked open his butane lighter. The flame on it glowed a blue color as he started to puff in the smoke from the small cigar between his lips. He let out a cough as he took his first hit and stuck out his tongue. "I don't know how you can stand these things." He motioned with his free hand to the cigar he held in the other._

_ The older man, Rich, only let out a hearty laugh. "They have a great taste, what can I say? They also leave a little taste on your lips, just in case you pick up a lady friend to go home with tonight." Rich nudged Thorne's ribs and he only laughed in return._

_ "True that, Rich, true that." He puffed on the cigar one more time before glancing over to see a woman sitting with his younger sister, just gossiping. "Hey Josh, you know who that girl is with my sis?"_

_ Josh, who was sitting in his wheel chair at the bar only nodded. "That my dear friend, is Elizabeth Schooly, you should remember her. She and your sister have hung out for forever." Thorne nodded his head and stood to walk over toward the gossiping girls._

_ "Hey there." He smiled at Elizabeth. They talked for what seemed like hours until the bar closed. She gave him her number and he did the same in return._

Thorne smiled at the memory before answering Ravei's question with a nod. Rich hadn't been one of his closest friends, just a buddy he'd drink with at the bar now and then. He currently wondered where the man had ended up, if he were safe or infected. He unwrapped the cigar and placed it in his mouth. He took the lighter in hand and slowly lit it up, taking a few short puffs on the cigar before letting the smoke billow out of his mouth. He smiled up at the girl in satisfaction.

I watched Thorne puff on the cigar with light interest. It kind of reminded me of how Brion's grandfather had always smoked his cigars. Just that little simplicity brought me back to before the infection. Yet, I guess I did get something good out of the infection. I got a loyal partner in crime, someone that will look out for me and someone to look out for. I got Thorne, and he has me.

There was still something on my mind though, something that I had to know. Now seemed like a better time than ever to ask him about his fiancée. "So, I saw pictures in your wallet. I took a guess that the red head beside you in one was your sister. Who was the one you were giving the ring to?"

Thorne seemed to be taken aback by my question and inhaled quickly on the cigar, making him go into a small fit of coughing. He soon quieted himself and I shook my head. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring it up like that." I sighed and took another swig of my drink. He rested a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. His eyes seemed distant though they stared into mine deeply.

"Eeelllliiiiiizzzzzaaaa." His raspy voice whispered into my ear as he rested his chin down on my shoulder. I finally had a name for the woman he was engaged to. Yet I felt hollow inside. I smiled softly over at him and patted his shoulder gently.

"You should get some rest now, Thorne." I smiled as I looked into his eyes, his reflecting an unknown emotion. He nodded as he snubbed out the cigar and started to get himself into a sleeping position. I was shocked when he curled up and rested his head on my leg, looking up at me one more time before he dozed off into a light sleep. I gently stroked his hair as I kept watch, until he would awaken again so we could continue on our journey to my old home.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get out you guys . Real life and stuff XD But here it is.

I'm also planning on actually putting the L4D and L4D2 characters in later on in a special arc to the story. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'll start working on the next one soon!


	13. Chapter 13 Um Help?

Chapter 13- Um… Help?

WARNING! This chapter includes some sexual content/rape! You have been warned! There will also be constant changes in POV… I just burnt my tongue on chicken DX also, do not try to eat hot chicken that's like fresh out of the oven! XD

His one eye gazed down as he was looking toward the place he smelled the sweet blood scent coming from. The puffs of green smoke that escaped the tumors, which covered most of his body and sealed his left eye shut, did not hinder the sight in his right eye at all. He saw clearly through the thick clouds, knowing one of his brethren were in with the one not like them.

Yet, as he flicked his long tongue out to taste the scent, he could tell that she was one of them. He coughed in slight confusion at the taste. How could the pray he sought after be like him and his brethren? The smoker was confused beyond all reason at this discovery. He checked the scent again and was still confused.

The smoker slowly lowered himself to the street from the building he stood upon, looking at the building across the street. He slowly crept up to one of the boarded up windows and looked through one of the slats at the prey sitting with the leaping one. She ran delicate fingers through the patch of hair on his head. Tilting his head to the side at this show of affection, the smoker was confused even more at the actions of both the leaper and the prey.

He watched the prey stand, stirring the leaper for a second. She spoke something to him before he curled himself back up into a ball to sleep. The smoker watched the prey as she started to move his way. Had she seen him? He knew exactly what he would do if she would come out. He scuttled himself into an alley between the shop and the building next to it, hiding himself in the shadows. He knew how to soften up his prey so he could devour it better and smirked to himself at the thought.

The prey opened the door and the smoker knew now was his chance. He lashed his long tongue out at the girl, making sure to wrap it around her mouth first, and snaking it around her torso to her waist. He felt her let out a muffled squeal of surprise against his tongue and smirked; He had her in a binding grip now. He started pulling her toward him until she was against his body.

The smoker reveled in the feel of the prey struggling against his body; it made his want to torture her greater. He moved his one tumored arm and normal arm around her waist, sliding his hands upwards toward her breasts. He grabbed them fiercely and she tried to get away from him even more. He coughed softly against the back of her neck and felt her shiver as he squeezed her breasts with an animalistic ferocity.

Her dark brown eyes looked back at him as he moved his one arm downwards, the tumored one still squeezing her breasts roughly. He stopped his hand when he reached her crotch and roughly moved her legs farther apart. The smoker slid his hand between her legs, gripping her most tender place like a vice. She gasped and wriggled against him even more and it made him cough in satisfaction.

He inhaled her scent swiftly and noticed something on her neck. He squinted at the small nip and grinned inwardly. The leaper had marked her as his own, as a kind of mate. Oh, this would be much more interesting to the smoker now that he knew this little bit of information. He coughed softly as he kept up his assault on her most private areas.

I couldn't believe this was happening; all I had wanted to do was go out for a little bit of fresh air, the smell of the shop was giving me a slight head ache. I told Thorne I would call to him if something happened, but I couldn't, due to the fact that the smoker's, sticky, slimy appendage of a tongue was wrapped tightly around my mouth and torso. I growled at myself inwardly as I took a glance back at the smoker.

The smoker's skin color was like that of Thorne's, and not like the other smokers I'd seen around before. He still had the disgusting puffs of smoke around him, and the tumors on most of his left side though. I looked back into the one eye that wasn't obscured was green, lighter than the smoke clouds, and there was some blonde hair hanging down into his face.

This couldn't have been the smoker that he and I saw earlier could it? Either way, he scared me to no end. I wanted to scream as I felt him touching me in more inappropriate ways. He kept rubbing at my clothed crotch like he wanted to start some sort of foreplay. He still held onto my breasts with the more disfigured hand, and it hurt. Tears were coming to my eyes as his vice of a grip on my chest would not relent. It was hurting more and more every time, like he was trying to speed up the process.

There was nothing more I wanted right now than a knight in shining armor to save me from the beast that had me constricted. I knew that wasn't going to happen though. I couldn't make a sound as the smoker moved his one hand up from my crotch to the fly of my jeans. His long, slightly rigid fingers undid the button and then the zipper, which startled me. I thrashed in his grip more violently now, trying to get away as best I could.

I couldn't do anything as the tongue twitched tighter around me for a second, as if a signal that I couldn't get away. He was toying with me, having evidently done this before. I made a muffled scream as I felt the end of his extra appendage move further down me. I looked down with my brown orbs at the sight and wanted to turn my head as quickly as I could. He slid his tongue into my panties and that was the end of it.

He touched me in my most sensitive area with his tongue and I didn't feel anything anymore. I was violated beyond anything else I could ever imagine. The appendage slithered around my lower area, slowly taking in the taste and it made me shiver before freezing. I knew tears were spilling out of my eyes now and I couldn't do anything. I was helpless against this smoker's assault on me. 'Oh god, Thorne, why could you not be awake and sense me in danger?' I thought as I closed my eyes and let him do with me as he wished.

I heard a growl then, thinking it came from the smoker enjoying my taste. The growl then turned into a shriek as the smoker froze. I moved my, probably red with tears by now, eyes up to the place the sound was coming from. Thorne stood there, crouched and with his hood drawn up over his head, his eyes staring at the smoker in a deadly way. I gave a small smirk as I felt the smoker's tongue loosen from me slightly, thinking the words that were in his disfigured head, 'Oh shit…"

Thorne raised his head as the girl hadn't come back in for a while. He was getting nervous and slightly anxious at her absence. He sniffed at the bag that she left behind, memorizing her scent, but narrowed his eyes at the discovery he saw next. She hadn't taken any of her weapons out with her. This was not a good sign to the hunter as he growled to himself. He slowly stalked forward and butted his head against the door she closed behind her, opening it.

Leaping from the doorway, he noticed that she wasn't standing in front of the shop, and there were no stupid ones –commons- lingering around. Turning his head up, he took in a deep breath of the air. He could faintly smell her, but something was blocking the sense. He narrowed his eyes as recognition hit him at the absence of her smell. There was a long-tongue around.

Thorne turned his head to where he smelled the long-tongue's smell the most; an alley beside the building they took refuge in. He stalked quietly over to the alley, just glancing around the corner of the building and hushed a growl to himself. The long-tongue definitely had Ravei in its slimy grip, probably wanting to feast upon her. He took another look and growled out loud, his eyes furious. He saw the long-tongue's devious appendage lower into her pants and her struggling to get away.

The long-tongue was dead. Thorne jumped out from his vantage point, claws scraping across the side walk as he skids to a halt. He shrieked at the long-tongue as he recognized him. It had been the one that had been following the two of them, and one of his former drinking buddies. He gave the infected a long, loathing glare. "Rich." He growled in their language.

"Thorne?" The smoker wheezed back at him. The hunter kept his ground, not liking the situation in which they had just met. Rich just gave him a devious smirk, "This yours?" He says as he squeezes the breast of the poor victim in his tongued grasp.

Growling at the touch Rich was giving her, he replied. "Yes, she is mine if you didn't notice my marking. Now hand her over." His eyes went wide as he saw the tongue twitch and the girl flinch in agony. He had no idea what to do; the smoker was in full control of this situation. With just a twitch of his tongue, he could kill her.

"Aw, but can I not play with her like I did to Elizabeth? That was so much fun!" The smoker coughed, knowing it would heat up the feisty hunter. The smoker was too focused on him to see what Thorne saw though. Ravei was staring right at him, wordlessly telling him a plan. He understood and growled at the smoker once again.

"This is nothing like Eliza." Thorne felt his heart pang fiercely at the thought, but quickly regained his focus as he heard the smoker squeal in pain. He pushed back on his legs before leaping at the smoker, his former friend.

I bit down on the smoker's tongue as hard as I could while he was coughing and hissing at Thorne. As the creature coughed and squealed in pain, I brought up my foot and kicked him hard in the shin, slipping out of the slippery grip. After I was safe, I saw Thorne land on the taller infected. He was scratching and clawing at him mercilessly.

Feeling blessed at Thorne's arrival on the scene, I thought back to their conversation for a second. Evidently the smoker was called 'Rich,' and there had been something said about Eliza and a mark that Thorne had given me. Were they speaking in English or had I just gone completely nuts in my panicked state and just thought I heard what I did?

Thorne was getting tired of the scratching and the clawing, so he just started rapidly punching the smoker wherever he could. He seemed to mostly aim for the tumors on the left side of his face, making them puff angry clouds of green smoke.

'Rich' was covered in sickly, green/red blood after Thorne was done with him. The hunter spat at him and then turned to me as I was buttoning up my pants. He held out a clawed hand to me and I greatly accepted it. Pulling me to my feet, he did so a little roughly, still filled with adrenaline I presumed. Clumsy me, I lost my balance and fell right into his heaving chest.

I looked up at the man before me, staring into his shaded, yet beautiful pale eyes. He looked back into mine and I felt more tears brimming on them. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my head into his chest, starting to sob. "I can't believe this happened." I had felt strong a few moments ago, feeling relieved to be away from the smoker and what he was doing to me. My breasts and my lower areas were hurting from him being so rough with me, even now they hurt.

The hunter wrapped his arms around me and consoled me with small gurgles and a soft purr here and there. I cleared my eyes by blinking a few times after a few minutes of endless crying. I gazed to where the bleeding and slowly dying smoker lay, his strange green eye gazing up at us as if to say, 'Have mercy on me.' I slowly let Thorne go as he did the same to me.

I growled darkly at the smoker as I leaped forward, bringing my knee into contact with his face, my hands bracing themselves on the wall he was leaning against. I then pounded my foot into his chest multiple times, hearing some sick cracking sounds. I was in frenzy as I wanted to make sure the smoker paid for what he did to me. My body shivered with the adrenaline, anger and hatred searing through me like a blazing forest.

Thorne could only stare as I turned around and looked at him with venom in my eyes. The smoker was dead behind me and the hunter in front of me was shocked beyond belief as he saw me maul it, mangling it more than he had. I coughed softly and rubbed my throat as I looked up at him. "I think it's probably time to gather everything up and start moving on. The car is just a few blocks away." I went past him and back into the store, leaving the door open for him. "Get what you want." I called over my shoulder.

Thorne didn't know what to think about her sadness to her sudden outburst of anger. Was this girl bi-polar or something? He was also slightly upset with her that he didn't get to finish off the smoker like he had intended to do when she had gone back inside to do whatever she wanted to do. He watched her silently from the doorway for a second before nodding at what she had said.

He grabbed himself two packs of cigars, enough to hold him over for a little while, and three lighters which he could easily place in his pants pockets. He thought quietly as he picked up the butt of the cigar he was smoking earlier and relit it, inhaling the smoke deeply. What if Rich had done to Ravei what he tried to do with Eliza?

Thorne remembered some of the night that the events between Rich and Eliza, but not all of it. He looked at the cherry of the cigar as he sighed and closed his eyes. Rich had indefinitely tried to rape Eliza for all she was worth, even stealing around forty dollars off of her. He had succeeded for the most part, having done the raping. He was thankful that Josh was ever present in his life though, and the man had told him about the events, having come into the house because the door was ajar.

He remembered almost going after Rich with a hand gun before Josh and Eliza both stopped him, knowing he wasn't thinking rationally. He came back from the memory as he heard quiet sobbing. Was Ravei crying again? He looked over at her and tilted his head. Walking over to her, he gently rested a clawed hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

Looking back at him, Ravei smiled and shook her head. "I'm sorry I'm changing emotions so much, but I'm not exactly sure of what to think." He slowly opened his arms for her and she greatly accepted the hug, wrapping her arms around his torso and nuzzling into his chest.

I felt so safe in Thorne's arms; I knew he would protect me, but I also had to protect myself. Going outside on my own was a stupid mistake, especially when I didn't have any kind of weapon on me. "I'm stupid Thorne," I whispered into his chest. "I could have been easily killed and you wouldn't know a thing until it was too late. Yes, if I were dead this apocalypse would be over for me; I could be with the people I lost once again, even see Josh where ever we go after death." I looked up at him slowly, "But I don't want to leave yet. I don't want to leave you and I don't want to leave my mom if she's still alive.

I will admit, I'm not afraid to die, but I'm afraid to leave the ones I care for behind." I was spilling my heart out to Thorne, and he was purring gently trying to calm me down. I was still shaking, but this time it was from me thinking the way I was with the 'What ifs.' I chuckled dryly as I looked up at him.

"Rrrraaveii." I kept my eyes on him as he continued to try and speak, "I… sta… stayyyy… wiiiittthhh…. Ya… youuuu." The words were extremely guttural and broken, but I understood them as if he were speaking to me in plain English.

Smiling up at him, I gave him a squeeze and nuzzled my face into his chest. "And I'll stay with you too, Thorne." He purred some more as he gave me a gentle squeeze back before I released him. "Think we should get going now, partner?" He nodded at me and gave me a toothy grin. I gently leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." I whispered as I shouldered my back pack as well as my fire arms.

I knew I had shocked the hunter, because it took him a moment to realize I was heading toward the door with my naginata in hand. He quickly caught up to me and took back to the roof tops. If one thing was for sure, I never wanted to be separated from Thorne. Never again will I go anywhere without him by my side, and never again, will I lose my faith in finding a safe haven, for the both of us.

A/N- Oh god this took me about 2-3 days to write, the idea just pooed itself into my head and I'm just like OMG got to do it, to introduce a character and get rid of it in the same chapter, because in all honesty, Rich is a dick XD anyways, Next chapter may be a bit longer to put out, running low on my internal memory, not on my computer, in my head. XD As always, reviews and criticism are welcome! I left a lot of these things in here open for you guys to come up with your own ideas at what happened!

One more note, have a great summer to those of you that just got out of school, and don't get kicked out of it for something stupid when you're a few months from graduating! That's all =) Hope you guys and gals enjoy! 3


	14. Chapter 14 Back Road Beauty

Chapter 14- Back Road Beauty.

I let out a silent sigh of relief as I saw the little, green geo metro approaching in the distance. Thorne and I had managed to avoid any kind of contact with special infected, and thank the gods for that. The only things we had come across were a few of the commons wandering around like they normally do, and they were easy prey with my eyes in the sky. I chanced a glance to my protector from the nearby roof and he dropped from it to my side, running on all fours.

"The car is straight ahead." I pointed to the small, hatch-back car. Thorne gave me a devious smirk and tilted his head toward the car, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "Are you challenging me to a race, hunter?" He nodded his head, that defiant smirk shining in the dim light. "You're on pretty boy." Pretty boy? Since when did I start calling him that? I'd figure it out later.

"We have to set up a few rules first." I stopped in my gait and looked my companion over as he stopped as well. "First off, no leaping, that will give you a big advantage over my poor frail human form." I giggled as Thorne rolled his strange, beautiful eyes at me, but nodded in agreement. "Second, you have to run like I do; on two legs." I pointed down to my already aching legs for emphasis. The hunter growled softly but stood on his own legs, a little shakily.

It was easily noticeable that Thorne wasn't used to using his two legs. His shakiness and the way he held himself without anything to support him showed it. Maybe it was just the strain of the infection that made him this way. I wasn't exactly sure, but I could think about it later. "You ready to lose, Thorne?" I smirked over at him and he snorted, seemingly to say 'yeah, right, lose to a human.'

"Alright, on go, we start moving." I knew I was already at a slight disadvantage, because I was carrying all of our supplies on my back. I drew in a deep breath as I looked for paths around the other few cars that were lined up in the street, as well as debris from the surrounding buildings. "Three, two, one…. Go!" We both leaped from the starting line with a pure dash to make it around the obstacles first. Even on two legs, the hunter seemed to have an advantage over me.

I growled softly as I propelled myself forward, dodging over a large chunk of concrete that was in my way. Dashing around a car, I took a chance gaze over at my opponent, watching him jump onto a car and running directly over it. "Show off." I scoffed as I jumped over a small pot hole and dodged by another car, my green geo merely feet in front of me.

I threw my hand out and touched the car, at the exact same time Thorne did. I looked over at my opponent and smiled. "Looks like we tied." I took the back pack off of my back, slightly winded, and opened one of the small side pockets, getting the keys from inside of it. The hunter was smiling over at me, not seeming to be out of breath in the least. I unlocked the driver's side door and sat myself inside of the car, reaching over to unlock the passenger side door for Thorne, pushing it open because I still wasn't sure if he could open doors all that well.

Thorne opened the door wider so he could take a seat in the car. He was looking out of the still opened door, his legs kid of bent at the knee because of the closeness of the seat to the dash board. "You may jump at this." I reached between his legs and under the seat to pull the bar that would put the seat a little farther back for him to be more comfortable. I was correct in my assumption; he did jump, almost the whole way out of the car if my arm wouldn't have stopped his one leg from leaving its place.

I laughed softly at the antic and looked over at him, looking a little shocked at the seat moving. He probably hadn't been in a car since before the infection, so this was a sort of new experience for him. "Sorry, you just looked slightly uncomfortable." He nodded and relaxed himself back in the seat, letting his legs stretch out. I pulled my door closed and put the keys into the ignition, Thorne following suit. I started the car up with a rumble, and shook my head at the loud noise it made.

I turned the car around and started driving out of the town. On the close outskirts I turned down one of the more back roads that would be less cluttered by cars. I couldn't help but look to my right as we passed by the rail road tracks that I used to walk on to get to a secret fishing spot my one friend showed me when I would skip school. I turned my eyes back to the road in front of me and kept driving.

The patch of woods, in the middle of the drive, was lush and green, probably due to the creek that flowed through the middle of it. I took a glance over at the passenger and he looked in awe at the creek and the trees; it had probably been a while since he had seen either. I slowed down a little bit to let him look at the scenery a while longer before turning left at a fork in the road.

It was surprising that there weren't that many infected in the parts we were traveling. I thought about it for a moment and decided that they had probably gone to find more 'fresh' food to eat. They had seemed more attracted to crowds of people than just one person and one of their own traveling together. Maybe that was why, when I was with the other survivors, that the infected attacked us so heavily.

At the next intersection I made a right turn, going into the more farm land area. I knew these back roads like they were imprinted on the back of my hand. If I kept following this road, it would take me to another intersection that I'd turn left on to get a straight shot to my house.

Thorne seemed extremely interested in the area, his eyes were moving from one place to the next when I glanced over at him. I smiled softly and spoke with a low voice, "It's beautiful isn't it?" He gave a purr like response and it made me smile a little more. "This is basically the same kind of area I grew up in. I wouldn't give it up for the world." I turned my eyes back to the road to avoid a car with its doors hanging open.

"What kind of place did you grow up in?" I didn't mean to pry, but curiosity was probably the thing that would kill me in the end. He looked over at me for a moment in thought, before pointing behind us and holding up his hands in an expanding motion. "A bigger city than that?" Thorne nodded and I chuckled quietly.

I gave him another glance and he had his head tilted to the side, some of his hair hanging into his gorgeous eyes. "You kind of look like I do when I go into the city just can't take my eyes off of the buildings that are so much taller than me." He gave a rough, guttural laugh and I couldn't help but smile. I turned my eyes back to the road and listened to the quiet hum of the car, hoping that I'd get to the house before I fell asleep at the wheel.

Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to get this short little bitch of a chapter out! I've gone through some things of late and it just made me blah. Writer's block was a big issue as well. Hell, it's an update though and I'm sorry I've kept you waiting for so long! . I blame World of Warcrack XD


	15. Chapter 15 Home at Last

Chapter 15- Home at Last.

The rest of the drive toward the house was quiet, as Thorne had once again fallen asleep. I had to stop and help him lay the seat into the reclined position since he couldn't really grip the handle with his claws and all. The bends in the road were getting more numerous as we passed by a few scattered houses and fields. I took a glimpse over at one of the fenced fields and saw some dead cows laying in them. I was thankful that the windows were rolled up; it kept most of the rotting smell out. I didn't know what it was but there was just a different smell between rotting infected flesh, and rotting animal flesh.

I smiled to myself, about a half a mile more and I would finally be back at the home that I had not planned on going back to. I was excited, yet scared at the same time. Thinking about it, if my mom were at the house, would she be mentally unstable and shoot something off as soon as I walked in the door? Shaking my head I puffed out a sigh, hoping she wouldn't yet be home so I could dispose of the rotting carcasses of my dead friends

It saddened me slightly to think that I'd be moving the dead bodies of my friends out of the place I called home. I knew it was for the better though. I'd actually have the chance to give them a proper or semi-proper burial.

I pushed some of my dark hair out of my face as I turned the wheel of the car around the final bend in the road before the 'village,' as the signs called it, came into view. It felt like ages had gone by since I had been here, and my heart felt like it was clenching in my chest. Passing through the small square, I turned the car into the second drive way on the right and there was my home.

The stone front of the house with the large plate glass windows looked the same as always, sparkling slightly in the light that filtered through the gray clouds above. The plant life around the house seemed to be brown and dying, even the evergreen bushes in front of the windows. Other than that, it looked like the normal house that I had spent around fifteen years of my life in.

I parked the car and turned it off, just sitting in the seat and staring at the place I called home. I slowly shook my head and looked over to my passenger, sleeping soundly. 'At least I won't be alone this time.' I thought as I moved my hand over to gently shake Thorne awake. He lazily opened one of his amazing eyes to stare over at me and let a toothy yawn pass over his features.

"We're here." I whispered as I turned my gaze back to the house. The hunter sat up quickly and turned his eyes to where I was looking. "We'll have some work to do on the inside." I said as I opened the car door and got out of the vehicle. Thorne did the same and stuck close to my side as I walked up to the back door.

I held my breath as I turned the handle and drew the door out toward me. It smelled like home as I walked into the kitchen, except for the rotting flesh smell of my slightly decomposing friends. "This is the work I was talking about." I spoke softly as I pointed to the bodies. My eyes started to water as I saw them, and I knew Thorne was looking at me. He rested a gentle, but firm hand on my shoulder. I chanced a sad smile up at his form of comfort and moved my hand to rest on his for a second.

"These three were like brothers to me." I pointed out with my other hand as I watched for the hunter's reaction. He slowly let his hand slide off of my arm and went over to the bodies. He seemed to be examining them. "I'm going to go find something to put them in so I can give them a properish kind of burial." He gave me a curt nod before I wandered toward the basement door which was a few steps away.

I opened the slightly creaky door and flipped on the switch at the top of the stairs, feeling lucky that the lighting still worked to some effect, looking for some trash bags. I knew it wouldn't be the best thing to put them in, but they had to be put in something because I couldn't stand to look at their bodies like this. I found the box that housed the black bags and pulled them down from the second shelf, looking them over slowly.

Closing the basement door, its hinges squeaking, I turned back to look at Thorne, who had three things lying on the kitchen table. A small silver case, a black mp3 player and a butterfly knife were lined up in front of me. I knew who each of the objects belonged to and smiled at the hunter. "Keepsakes from them for me?" I asked and my companion only gave me a curt nod.

"Thank you." I couldn't express my gratitude for him, but in those two simple words. "Alright, we've got some work to do." Biting at my lip, I sighed and looked over the bodies. "We may have to dismember them a little bit more to fit them in these bags though, and that will make more of a mess."

Thorne looked over at me with a devilish gleam in his eyes, as if he were trying to say, 'let me handle this.' I raised an eyebrow in question, but shrugged it off. Pulling a few bags out of the small box, I opened them up and rested them on the table, the hunter startling at the small 'swoosh' sound they made upon inflating.

"You got this then?" I looked back at him and he nodded while raising his thumb up in the air. "Alright," I wrapped my hand around the back door knob, "come and get me when you're finished." With that I walked out the door and pulled it shut behind me, venturing out into the world once more. The sky was overcast, as it had been since the tragedy struck, the sun was shining brightly behind the clouds though, that was a definite. Between the gray clouds, you could see the partial light from the glowing orb, making it seem a little drearier.

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes, my arms opening out to the sides as I felt a soft breeze brush past me. It still smelled like home here, like nothing was wrong and the world was the way it should be. I knew better though and as I opened my eyes, reality came crashing back on me. I slowly walked over to the little garden my parents had planted and looked over the dead vegetation.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I bent down on my toes and raised a hand to look at one of the leaves on a cucumber vine. The brittle leaf wasn't far from crumbling at my touch, but, despite that, it looked like it still had some life in it. "Even you little plants are fighters in a world that's gone to shit." I chuckled sadly. "Life always seems to find a way to come back and regrow. I suppose that is how the human population is going to come back as well." I stood up straight as I heard the door open and turned to see Thorne wipe his hands on his pants, his claws being slightly darker in color.

"You get the job done?" He nodded at me with a toothy grin and I couldn't help but smile. "Then let's get them out here and burn them." Nodding again, he followed my lead back into the house.

It wasn't as bad of a mess as I thought it would have been; it even seemed like some of the dried blood had been cleaned up. I then looked to the paper towel roll hanging by the coffee pot and noticed some rips and tears in the paper. "You even tried to clean up more of my mess." I spoke softly as I covered my mouth with my hand. I heard the hunter gurgle behind me, in a sound that seemed to be laughter.

I smirked, turning to him and patted him on the head, "You're just a little over achiever aren't you boy?" He seemed to playfully growl and snap at my hand, noticing the playfulness in my voice. He then stood up, once again towering over me with his foot higher height. "Okay maybe not so little." The hunter chuckled again and I smiled at him. "Alright, back to business." I looped my hand around an end of a trash bag and started to lift it up.

The weight in it seemed to be like nothing, which shocked me as I stumbled backwards with its lightness. I was expecting it to be much heavier than it was, due to the dead weight inside. I glanced at the hunter and tilted my head to the side in confusion. He seemed to notice and rested a clawed hand on his forearm, before moving it down to his legs. I got the gist of it; this bag was filled with the limbs. It did make sense; the torsos would probably be heavier as would the heads.

I wandered back to my thought and shook my head to get it out. How would I have known that? It's not like I've ever dismembered someone before. That thought, itself, brought more shock to me. I was starting to think that I'd started going crazy but shook it off due to the task at hand.

We lugged the bags out behind the house and threw them into the vacant lot that rested there. "We can deal with the burning later, right now, we've got to get the rest of the blood out of the house, and it smells horrible." I spoke to my companion and he nodded in agreement. As we walked back to the house I took one last look at the black bags that now housed the bodies of my three friends.

**A/N- Yay! I've finally updated! And sorry it has taken so long guys and gals! I would have had it out sooner but the writer's block was just so hard to get over! Yet, here I am! Alive, well and thought I should get this out to you guys on my birthday XD**

**I would also like to thank everyone that's reviewed and added this story to their alert list! I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16 Thorne

Chapter 16- Thorne

It was well past dark when the two had finished cleaning up all of the gore; Ravei doing most of the hard scrubbing of the floors until her fingers were raw. His clear, light eyes could see her form like it was daylight. She was lying under the covers of her bed, sleeping soundly for the first time in a while. Smirking to himself, Thorne thought about how easily he could kill the girl as she slept so peacefully. He shook his head, erasing the thought as soon as it came to him. He couldn't do that now; he wanted to protect her instead.

Through the day, she had told him stories of misadventures with her friends. How they would go into the woods at night and get scared of the slightest twig snap or eerie feeling. Doing illegal things in the graveyard, but not desecrating the graves or being disrespectful to the dead. Swimming at different swimming holes a few miles away from where they are now. She had even told him that her friends weren't just friends, that they were family.

Thorne knew what she was speaking of, through his own memories of the people he cared for. He looked up at the sky, the silhouette of the moon outlined behind a bank of wispy clouds. Smiling to himself, he stood up from the window seat and made his way down the stairs, looking around the darkened house. It was very homely and he felt very comfortable in it, more so than he would be at his own home.

Turning his head toward the table, he looked up at the photographs that lined the wall above it. Most of the people in the pictures were unfamiliar, but Thorne could pick out a younger, toddler Ravei in a few of them. One was of her with a slightly balding man, holding her up with both of them all smiles. He assumed that the man was either her father or grandfather. The next one had her situated in the arms of a salt and pepper haired woman, who seemed to be holding her affectionately. He guessed that the woman was most likely her mother. The last one he glanced at was one of Ravei with what he thought of to be her older sister, for the two had a definite resemblance to one another.

His eyes dropped from the pictures to his claws as he started to wonder of his own family. He did not know if they were safe, dead, or worse, like him. He knew Maya hadn't had the best immune system, no one in his family really did. Thorne loathed that thought and shamed himself for ever even thinking about it. Growling, he started to despise himself for what he had become, along with regaining some of his human memories. He hated having to see his best friend die twice. He hated that he didn't know what happened to his own family. Yet most of all, he hated how Ravei's old traveling companions hadn't killed him.

Thinking to himself out of rage, he flipped over the kitchen table; it and everything on it made a loud, clattering crash as it fell to the floor. Thorne then scolded himself, knowing the noise would have probably woke up his human. He also loathed the fact that he let his anger get to him.

Frustrated with his burst of anger, the hunter picked the table back up and placed all of the items that were on it in their original places. The only thing he couldn't replace was a red plate in the shape of a heart with the word 'love' inscribed on it. The plate had broken in half almost exactly down the middle. Thorne looked it over and sighed; the plate basically showed what his heart felt like right at that moment.

Looking back up at the pictures, he smiled sadly, knowing that he would have to ask Ravei about them after she woke from her sleep. For now though, he had to dispose of the broken plate. He carried it with him as he made his way out the back door and into the field to the right of the house, placing it under a small cluster of trees.

Thorne then took a giant leap into one of the bigger trees, climbing to the top most branch that would support his weight. From there he gazed through the leaves at the overcast moon, trying his best to clear his thoughts. The moon looked as it always had to him. It brought him a sense of peace and made him feel renewed with hope of good fortune. Even though he couldn't see it through the cover of the clouds and the leaves, he felt better knowing that it was over head, looking down on the earth as it had for millions of years.

From his perch he could see the rest of the town to the right of the house, though the town itself wasn't nearly as big as the one they came from. Most of the houses were on one side of the road, the other side was just open to more fields that were separated by a line of trees. He took in a deep breath and could only smell the environment around him; the bark on the trees, the softness of the grass, the human scented smells of the houses. None of his brethren, the infected, were around and it put him at ease. He did pick up the smell of some corpses though, coming from some of the houses.

This place Ravei had brought him to, reminded him of the first home he grew up in. The town where everybody knew everybody and the gossip only spread by word of mouth of the elders sitting on their porches drinking iced tea in their chairs. Thorne smiled at the thought and decided to head back into the house that housed his human.

Once inside, he decided to investigate everything else in the house to make sure all was well. It still had power so that meant that the house probably had its own generator or something. Starting to feel the wear and tear of the day, he decided it was time for him to sleep as well. He crept back up the stairs to Ravei's room and laid himself on the other side of her queen sized bed. The girl cuddled up to him as she felt his warmth and he purred softly at her. A smile was on her face as she slept; something he hadn't seen before. It made him happy to know that she was happy to be home in her own bed. As soon as he laid his head on the pillow, he was out and in a fitful sleep himself.

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get this one out, I think I've finally started to come out of my writer's block a little bit and decided to change the pace and have a 'Thorne only' chapter. I know it's shorter than I'd want it to be but I hope you guys and gals enjoy it. And a thank you to everyone that reviewed/favorite/altered this story. Your feedback helps fuel me into writing more and that's what drives me to keep going. Thank you and have a nice day.


	17. Chapter 17 Mom?

Chapter 17- Mom?

I was slowly waking up, though I didn't want to. I nuzzled myself back into the warmth of my bed, pulling the covers tightly to my chin with my fist balled up in them. My back was pressed against something warm and it made me want to sleep even longer. Feeling a weight over my waist, I slowly opened my eyes and looked toward the weight, seeing a long sleeved arm draped over me. I looked behind myself in my sleepy haze and saw red locks of hair mixed with my own black ones.

Smiling, I looked back at my sleeping companion. His face looked so peaceful, his nostrils flaring slightly as he took in a breath, his eyes fluttering as he was dreaming. I rolled to my opposite side to get a full, good look at him. I sighed as my mind took turns and loops, and my heart pounding rapidly at the thoughts. I did have to admit to myself though; he was gorgeous, if only I had known him before the world turned upside down.

I took a glance out of the window, noticing the sun had risen, though the dreary clouds were still there, and sighed. Gently as I could, I moved his arm off of me and got out of the bed feeling fully refreshed. Thorne whined softly as his arm searched for my warmth and I chuckled, shaking my head. He was so cute when he did stuff like that.

I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen, noticing something was slightly off with the table. It was turned slightly to the left and not completely against the wall like it normally was. Everything on the table seemed to be slightly out of place as well. I shrugged it off; it probably got thrown out of place while we were taking the bodies out the door.

Walking over to the refrigerator/freezer, I opened the door and held my breath, knowing the smell was going to be absolutely horrendous. I was surprised by the light actually coming on when I held the door open and let out the breath. Some of the things on the shelves had spoiled over the past few weeks but some of the things in the fridge were still okay. I then turned to the freezer and saw the same thing and smiled. My dad had actually done something good by installing backup generators.

"Oh gods, that means I can have a nice hot meal!" I squealed in delight at the thought of what I should make. Beef pasta was sounding like the most appealing thing that came to my mind. I made my way out of the house and looked up toward the sky, seeing the sun barely peeking through the clouds.

I walked over to the door on the back of the garage and opened it, looking around its dark, musty confines. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, all of my dad's machinery was intact and in its rightful spots. I walked over to the work bench and quickly picked up what I needed; a box of matches and lighter fluid.

Walking back out of the garage, I looked over to the few trash bags that had my friend's remains in them. I smiled softly at a memory that surfaced, shaking my head soon afterwards. "You guys may be gone, but you'll forever be in my heart." I dumped some of the contents of the bottle of lighter fluid on the bags. Lighting the match I through it on top of the pile, a woosh of flames picked up quickly and the smell of burning, decayed flesh filled the air.

The smell its self was slightly sickening as I took a breath of it and coughed soon afterwards. It was worse than I thought, far worse. I was gagging until I was upwind of the horrid smell; never had my nose been so sensitive to smells before. I caught my breath as I walked up to the door and couldn't hold back whatever contents I had in my stomach anymore.

I rested my back against the house and took in a few deep breaths, shaking my head. Whatever thoughts of breakfast I had earlier were completely wiped out of my mind. I looked back to the burning bags and sighed. What had gotten my sense of smell worked up so badly that I vomited at the smell of the burning flesh? I had smelled it before when burning Veronica and Josh, but then again their corpses were somewhat fresher.

Shaking the thoughts away, I walked back into the house and sat in the living room. It felt great to be back in my childhood home, I hadn't even realized how homesick I had been until now. I curled myself into a ball while leaning on the arm of the couch, my knees drawn up to my chin. In this room, it smelled like home, I could even catch my dad's scent on the couch he loved to nap on so much.

Caught up in my thoughts I didn't realize I was being watched until I turned my head to the door way and jumped. Peeking around the corner sat a sleepy, disgruntled looking Thorne. I hadn't noticed he was there until I looked, since he was crouched down as usual. "Damn it, you scared me, Thorne." My body had uncurled itself at this point and he made his way, on all fours, over to me.

The hunter pulled himself onto the couch beside me and rested his head in my lap, looking up at me with sad pale eyes. There was worry written in his features as he moved as close to me as he could without pulling himself the whole way into my lap. "Were you upset that I wasn't in bed yet when you woke up?" I ran a hand through his bloody red tresses as he nodded. "Okay so sue me for letting you sleep in a little later than normal. You haven't been getting very much sleep lately as is." I semi scolded.

Thorne pouted a little which was accompanied by a whine and nuzzled his face into my stomach. I sighed as I looked down at him, noticing how upset he truly looked. "Fine, I'm sorry for not being in the same room as you when you woke up, and for going outside to burn my friend's bodies without you being there to supervise me." He seemed to perk up at that and looked up at me with hardened eyes.

I should have just kept my mouth shut. He started to growl and hiss and flail his arms around wildly. Apparently now it was his turn to scold me, though it was in his own language. He even went so far as to get up and straddle my legs, his arms on either side of my head with his claws digging into the back of the couch. He growled into my face, his pale eyes concentrated on mine, our faces merely inches from one another. What I wouldn't have given to just lean the rest of the way and touch my lips to his.

That thought broke me out of my haze as I felt my cheeks heating up. He was so close to me and in such a precarious position. My heart was pounding a million miles a minute and he was still just hissing and growling at my going outside without him. He suddenly stopped and just looked me over, most likely hearing how fast my heart was pounding. His eyes scanned over my face and a wolfish smile plastered itself onto his lips.

"Oh don't you even-"Was all that came from my lips before Thorne's head was buried into the crook of my neck. I couldn't help but shudder as I felt his warm breath lightly grazing my skin. A purring like sound came from his throat at my reaction so he decided to continue and actually nip on my neck. 'This can't be happening…' I thought, though my body was doing something different. I had involuntarily leaned my head over to the side, exposing more of my neck to him.

He took the opportunity to fully lay me down on the couch, though he was still straddling me. He nipped at my neck again, which had moved again so he had more access to it. The way he was over me, I felt his body both tense and relax at the same time. When he nipped at me again it was a little harder than the other times, actually making me gasp.

Thorne pulled himself away from my neck so his amazing pale eyes were on mine, his pupils a little larger than normal. A soft purr came from him as he brought his hand up and cupped my cheek, trying not to dig his claws into my flesh. He pushed his nose to mine as a soft smile played at his lips. Oh gods his lips! He was close enough now; I wanted to know what it felt like to have his lips on mine. Tilting my head I quickly placed a chaste kiss to his lips.

His eyes were wide and he pulled back almost instantly. The hand that was on my face moved to rest just on the couch right beside my head. His other hand was on the back of the couch, claws digging into the soft material. A soft growl passed over his lips as he regained his composure, his eyes staring down at me with malice.

"Thorne, I'm sorry, I just…" I didn't get to finish my explanation as he snarled at me, his razor sharp teeth inches from my face. His hands were now on either side of my head, keeping me pinned and having to stare up at the person who probably wanted me dead right now. I let out a shaky breath which made him blink. He quickly shook his head and looked down at me, the soft expression returning to his gaze. From all I know I probably looked like I was about to cry.

He leaned down to nuzzle his cheek against mine and purred soothingly into my ear. I gently took a hold of his chin and made him look me in the eye. "You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I was the one at fault. I didn't take into consideration on how you felt." He shook his head wildly and sat up quickly, pointing to his claws and then throwing his hood up and growling. He settled back down, removing the hood and looking back down at me with pleading eyes, hoping I understood.

I thought for a moment before coming to the realization. "The hunter side of you took over for a few seconds?" He nodded his head vigorously before nudging his head back down into the crook of my neck. He whimpered softly as if to tell me he was sorry. I raised my hand and combed my fingers through his hair to scratch him behind his ear. He purred that throaty purr of his and I couldn't stop the smile that took over my lips. "Don't worry about it."

Thorne froze for a second as he picked his head up and looked intently over to the other side of the room. Not being able to tell what had caught his attention from the hunter weight on top of me, I stopped my breathing and listened. The sound of a vehicle, though soft, was close. "Let me up." I quickly spoke to him, which he obeyed. I rushed to get up and quickly strode out to look out of the unused door in the other room. I caught a glimpse of the tail end of a red car and sucked in a breath.

"Go hide upstairs, Thorne." I quickly commanded the tall figure that was looking over my shoulder. He shook his head and took hold of my hand, being careful of his claws. I looked up at him and sighed. "I know you want to stay here with me, but I'm not sure who it is or how they'll react to you. I don't want you hurt. At least do me a favor and stay on the couch or something." The hunter frowned but nodded. He quickly took the hand he was holding and gave it a swift kiss before making his way back to the couch.

I smiled to myself before grabbing my pistol off of the kitchen counter and moving to stand by the back door. I held my breath at hearing the screen door open for a few seconds before closing. I heard the jumbling of keys before I opened the door myself to see a frazzled, salt and pepper haired woman around my height standing before me.

Her shocked chocolate colored eyes turned to relieved as she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around my neck, a choked sob coming from her. I couldn't help but hug her back as I felt tears gathering in my own eyes. "Mom…" I was able to breathe out before breaking down into a fit of crying.

…

A/N- I know it's been forever, sue my writer's block but I finally was able to get this chapter out to you all! I don't know how many of you are even still reading this thrown together story, for those who are though; you got a little bit of fluff. And you got to see a cranky, though still adorable just woken up Thorne! Good god I've made him so soft…

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little chapter, and hopefully it won't take too long for the next one to come out! I thank all of you that are still reviewing/following/whatevering this story, it makes my day and makes me want to bring out more of it to you! Ciao~


	18. Chapter 18 The Hunter and the Mother

Chapter 18- The Hunter and the Mother

I was still surprised that my mom had made it home in one piece. She was a slightly woman, probably only weighed 120 pounds at the least, and less muscular than myself. Just looking at her now reminded me of how I had inherited my dad's body type instead of hers, where her build was thin and lithe mine was muscular and athletic. Though she looked frail, I had to remember that she had a fighting spirit; she would never give up until something was done.

We finally released one another from our heartfelt hug and looked into each other's chocolate eyes, which were slightly red from crying. We didn't have to say anything to one another at that moment; the relief from just knowing that the other was alive was enough for us. "Mom, I'm so glad that you're alright."

"I'm happy to know that you're safe too, hun." Her voice was a welcomed change from the past few weeks. I saw a spark go through her gaze as if she remembered something. "Hold on, I have to go tell someone that the house is safe." With that she turned and walked back out the door. As soon as the screen door went shut, Thorne was at my side.

"Go hide up stairs." I hurried to push the hunter up toward my room. He growled at me, to which I growled back at him. "She has someone else with her, I don't know how either of them will take to you and I don't want you to get hurt." I saw his eyes narrow slightly before he huffed and pounced up the stairs.

I heard the back door open once again and a voice call out to me. "Ravei, I need a hand here! Hurry!" Any thoughts I had in my mind, I quickly left out to dry as I hurried to my mother's side to see she was supporting an injured woman. This woman's dark hair was matted to her face with both dirt and blood, her ankle twisted in a way I'd only seen in pictures, with some bone poking through the skin. Her clothes were dirty and barely hanging onto her frail frame from all of the rips and tears in them.

Quickly and as gently as I could, I took the woman from my mother and said, "Get me some warm water, a few wash cloths and as many medical supplies as you can find. Also some spare blankets." I had instantly gone into medic mode. My mom nodded at me and rushed to do the things I asked as I carried the woman into the living room to rest her on the couch. She was unconscious but groaned in pain as I gently started to look her over.

There was a nasty gash on the woman's head, close to her temple, minor cuts on her arms (some looked like scratches), and I even saw a few bite wounds on her. Though the worst had to be her ankle, but the bite wounds were what was scaring me the most. How long ago had this woman been bitten? Was she immune to the effects of the disease or would she turn at any minute? I dashed the thoughts away as my mom came into the room with the requested items.

"Do you know her name?" I quickly started to work on the head wound first, moving hair out of her face to get to it. I damped the first cloth in the warm water and as swiftly and softly as I could started to wash the blood and grime away from the wound.

"She was barely conscious when I found her." I could tell the older woman was shaking her head as she watched me. "Though I think it did start with an E or L."

Nodding I continued my work, quickly cleaning and patching up her minor wounds, saving her ankle for last. I bit my lip as I looked at the wound, not really knowing what I should do with it. Yes there was bone sticking out of it, probably shattered but I'm in no way a medical expert on these things. I could try to reset the bone, though that would be difficult without some kind of pain medicines to keep the woman sedated long enough for me to do so; and the fact that I probably wasn't strong enough to do it.

The only other option I could come up with was just bandaging it up and making her sit through all the pain it would cause her on a daily basis. I shook that thought from my mind; I was a bit twisted yes, but not enough to make another human being suffer that way. Then a thought popped into my head.

What if I could get Thorne to pop her foot back into the correct position? The possibility of my mom freaking out about me having made friends with one of the infected made me quickly recall the thought. My brain still decided to cycle through the idea of having the hunter do the job though. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"Mom, don't freak out at me for this until I tell you everything, please." I looked over at the salt and pepper haired woman, who stared back at me with confusion in her brown orbs. "Thorne! Hood up and come as quickly and as normally as possible!" I shouted, cursing under my breath.

I heard the hunter coming as quickly as he could through the creaking of the floor boards. He rushed into the room with his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, thank the gods for that. I looked over at him and motioned him over to me, which he nodded to. He sat on the other side of me, on the coffee table that I sat all my supplies and myself on. I cursed some more as I heard my mom's breathing hitch in her throat.

"Is that…"

"I'll explain later, mom." I told her in a hushed tone before turning my gaze back to Thorne. "This woman's leg is very injured." The hunter looked down at the leg in question then back to me. "I'm not strong enough, or quick enough to give it a clean reset. This is where I need your help." He seemed to understand as he nodded.

Thorne, as careful as he could be, rested his hands on the woman's leg and on her foot. With a swift movement, and a sharp snap the foot was set back in its original place. A deathly scream echoed from the woman as the ankle was reset and it made the three of us conscious ones flinch. I then quickly nodded to him again before starting up the process of splinting and bandaging the wound as best I could.

I sighed as I wiped my forehead and smiled softly at my work. I quickly threw a light blanket over the woman and stood up, followed both by Thorne and my mother. "I'll put on a pot of coffee." The older woman, looking in a state of shock nodded before hurrying to the kitchen. I rested my head on the hunter's shoulder and closed my eyes for a second, feeling him wrap his arm around me to support me.

"This is going to be a strange conversation." I muttered and opened my eyes to look up at my head rest. He looked slightly out of it himself, so I took his hand and led him out to the kitchen to sit down at the table. My mom sat at her usual spot, by the door to the basement with a cup sitting in front of her, ready for the coffee that was brewing. I sat at the head of the table while Thorne took to my right side, sitting awkwardly.

"So…" My mom started to break the semi awkward silence that started to settle over us. "You seemed to have brought in a new pet?" The hunter growled at the word, making my mom jump five feet out of her seat.

"No, mom, he's not a pet." I sighed, feeling the slight pain of a head ache coming on. "He's my companion; we've been looking out for one another for a few weeks. His name is Thorne Lowell. Thorne, this is my mother, Genn." The hunter held out his hand to shake my mother's trying to at least be friendly. My mother on the other hand, looked skeptical. "He's careful with his claws, there's nothing to worry about." I smiled softly as she stiffly took his hand, swiftly shaking in then putting it back in her lap.

"So you've been looking out for my daughter?" Genn finally spoke up after another short silence. Thorne nodded back to the woman, finally taking his hood off. She gasped at his looks, or how clean he was compared to the other infected she had most likely seen. I'm not sure which.

"What happened to dad?" I interrupted the staring contest between the two. A dark look crossed my mom's features so my guess is it wasn't good.

"He turned." The older woman sighed as she got up to get herself a cup of coffee, quickly sitting back down after she poured it. "Became one of those long tongued things." The dark look was still in her features. I thought back to the last run in I had with a smoker and didn't question her any further, even Thorne seemed to be on the same thought pattern I was.

"What about Sissy and the kids? Have you heard anything from them?" I got hopeful for a second but then the look on my mom's face went blank, and I could see tears forming in her eyes. I felt the wet drops forming in mine too. I rested my elbows on the table and placed my head in my hands, trying not to cry.

"I went to check on them before I found that girl in there." I heard my mom choke out. "Your sister and the two youngest were well dead. The oldest was sitting in a dark corner, crying." I already knew what had happened to my oldest niece, my favorite of the bunch.

I couldn't contain my tears anymore and let them flow freely as I folded my arms on the table and laid my head on them. Most of my close family was infected or dead. I didn't think that I could be any more hurt than what I was in that moment. I felt more strongly for the kids being claimed so early in life; the oldest was almost in her teens, where the youngest would have just started kindergarten.

I felt someone lift me up and then sit me down again in their lap. I opened my eyes to look up into the face of the hunter I so relied on before curling up in his arms as he held me close to him. I buried my nose into his hoodie as he gently ran his hand over my hair in a comforting way, not caring if my mom was staring at the affection or not.

By the time I started to calm down, I looked over at Genn and saw that she had barely touched her coffee, just staring straight ahead of herself. "Go lay down mom. You need rest." I coughed out, my throat feeling raw. She only nodded as she went to her bedroom to lie down. Slowly and on wobbly legs, I lifted myself out of the embrace of the hunter.

I decided to get myself a warm soda and splash some water on my face, washing away the tear tracks on my cheeks. As I leaned against the kitchen counter, looking down into the draining water, I felt arms wrap around my waist, and a weight on my shoulder. "Ssssooorrrryyy." The only small guttural word I had heard from Thorne in a long time. He was still trying to comfort me.

"It's alright, Thorne." I turned in his grasp and wrapped my arms around him as well. I was still upset, there was no doubting that, but just the warmth he gave me made me feel better. Reluctantly, I pulled away from my source of comfort and took a swig of the soda before sighing. "I should check on that woman." I slowly walked into the living room and saw that she was still sleeping, though she looked to be sweating.

In a motherly fashion, I rolled down the blanket from her upper body, leaving it to cover her legs. I then took one of the clean wash cloths I hadn't used to clean her wounds and went back to the kitchen to soak the cloth in clean, cool water before returning to place it on her forehead. I looked over to Thorne who once again was sitting on the small coffee table, looking at the woman like he had seen a ghost.

"Thorne?" I questioned him before looking at the woman again.

"E…. Ellllliiiizzzzzzzaaaaa…" His face was one of pure shock, and so was mine as he pointed a clawed finger at the woman that was nestled on my couch.

A/N- And there you have it, almost after a whole god darn long time of a wait, Chapter 18 is finally complete! And with what a twist huh? =P did you guys think I gave up on this story or something? I actually thought I did myself for a while there… Then I started rereading the wonderful reviews I got on the last one and decided to continue. Along with all the support that came from follows/favorites, I'm happy to keep you guys entertained, and I'm so very sorry for the long hiatus on this part! I will try to keep going with this story even if it kills me and I love all of you! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! See you next time!


	19. Chapter 19 Awake and Jealous

Chapter 19- Awake and Jealous

I was up in my room, laying on my bed and staring up at the ceiling at nothing in particular. My mind was racing with thoughts about the woman down stairs. I couldn't seem to fathom that the woman was Thorne's fiancée, and the fact that the hunter hadn't left her side since he found out who she was. I even tried to get the red head to just go into a different room to help me with something and he had only growled at me. It was safe to say that I was jealous, though I didn't exactly want to admit it.

Sighing, I decided to get up and go make something to eat for the ones in my house. I went down the stairs and to the kitchen to see my mom was already awake and looking through the cabinets. "Momma? What are you doing up already?" My voice was rough as it came out, making me wince slightly at the sound.

"I couldn't really sleep." She responded, looking over her shoulder at me. "I started thinking and worrying about this and that, you know how it is." A small smile came to her lips. "I saw that there was an Xbox hooked up to the TV in the living room; you had the boys over while we were away I'm guessing?"

"Yeah…" A pang of sorrow washed over me as I looked down at my feet.

"Where are they now? Did they leave you by yourself when all of this started?" She didn't seem to notice the sadness in my voice.

"Not exactly…" I rubbed the back of my neck, moving to sit in one of the kitchen chairs. I saw her turn toward me with a questioning look in her eyes. "Brion was the first to be affected by the sickness…" My voice was low as I looked down at the surface of the table.

"What happened?" Her voice had become soft and motherly, noticing my sudden sadness.

"He died right there." I pointed over to the kitchen sink, not taking my eyes off of the table. "Then he came back and attacked both Drake and Teagon… "My throat was constricting at the memories. "I had to kill all three of them…" I rested my head against the cool of the table, feeling the tears welling in my eyes. It had been so long ago that this happened, and yet it still hurt just as deeply as when it first did.

"So you've been in this mess alone?" I heard her question, a gentle hand resting on my back in comfort.

"Not really… After all of this happened I took the car into town and met up with some other survivors. We ran around the town looking for an evacuation sight for a week or so." I felt slight anger rise in me at remembering them. "We went into an abandoned shop with a safe room. There was a witch blocking the door… and I was the only one with a shot gun." I felt her hand stiffen on my back.

"The safe room door was open and out pounced the one we know as Thorne." I turned my gaze to the wall, trying to compose myself. "The witch attacked him, but he got his few strikes in on me." I could feel her hand stiffen more if it was possible. "We're both fine now though, don't worry." I quickly added so she wouldn't think about hurting the hunter.

"I was out for a few days." I continued, trying to get her mind off the hunter. "My group left me in the safe room to basically fend for myself. I was weak but I could still take care of most things on my own." I smiled sadly at the memory. "Then Thorne came right back to the safe room after they were gone. We had a few spats but he didn't try to attack me on purpose… Even found me a new sword after he broke the one I was using."

"Wow…" Was the only word that came out of her mouth as she took a seat to my right.

"He also had a friend that turned." I felt the pang of hurt in my heart as I remembered Josh. "He was a jockey that had found one of my survivor 'friends' injured and brought her back to the safe room. I took care of her wounds but then she decided to shoot both the jockey and herself." I sighed shaking my head. "She had basically gone crazy with the thought of working together with these two infected."

"After that, we went to check on Shelby, since she lived close by." Running my hand through my hair I sighed again. I seemed to be sighing a lot while telling this story to Genn. "She and husband were both dead when we got there… and Norton was infected." I had intentionally skipped over the part of the story with the charger, and was going to do the same with that smoker part. "After I put Norton to rest, we got back to the car and started our way back here. A day or so after we got here, you and Eliza showed up." I finished, looking over at my mom, to see her reaction.

"So you have been through a lot since I haven't been here." Her voice was quiet and her eyes were gazing at her hands that rested in her lap. "I wish I could have been here to protect you from all of this."

"It's not your fault mom." I tried to reassure her with a smile. "Even if you were here, it wouldn't have stopped the apocalypse from happening."

"I guess you're right." Genn sighed in defeat, but a small smile was tugging at her lips. "I'm just glad you're safe"

"I'm glad you're safe too, momma." I then stood up and stretched, feeling a few pops along my spine. "Oh by the way, Dad did have a saving grace when he was working on the house a while back." I smiled as I walked over and turned on the sink, letting the water warm up. "Come feel!"

"Alright." She sighed slightly as she stood and walked over to the sink, putting her fingers under the water. Her eyes went wide as she noticed the water was hot. "Hot damn he did do something right!" I saw her smile genuinely then.

"Yup! I don't know how long it's been running but the backup generator was probably the best thing he's ever done!" I grinned stupidly at her before shutting off the water.

Just then there was a scream that pierced our ears, and we went into defense mode as we quickly stepped into the living room. I took notice of the woman on the couch holding a pillow in front of her like a shield while her eyes were wide, looking at the hunter who was crouched on the table by the couch.

"Don't come near me, monster!" Her voice kind of hurt my ears as it was high pitched from fright.

"Eeeeelllliiiiizzzaaa?" Thorne's guttural voice came out slowly as he looked the woman over.

"Stay back!" There was harshness in her voice. From the sound of it, she didn't even recognize the hunter as her fiancée.

"Thorne." I interrupted, looking more toward the hunter. "You're scaring her, back down for now." I kept my voice calm as I held his gaze when he looked my way.

"Bbbuuutt…" He held my gaze evenly before relenting and moving away from the terrified human. I walked over to the woman's side and smiled slightly.

"Welcome back to the waking world." The smile of course was forced; I wasn't too fond of this woman already. She looked up at me like I was some kind of parasite.

"Who are you? How'd I get here?" She sneered.

"My mom found you and brought you here, where I treated your wounds the best I could." I kept my voice even, but the smile left my face. Genn then came up to my side with a glass of water, handing it to the woman, who took it and downed it like she hadn't had water in ages.

"I remember you… I was barely conscious but you helped me into your car…" Eliza was staring Genn with knowing eyes.

"Yes. My name is Genn. This is my daughter, Ravei and her companion, Thorne." My mom was being polite, even though I could tell she wasn't very happy with how the woman was acting.

"I'm Elizabeth… Eliza for short." She then turned her eyes toward me, a slight glint of questioning in them. "So how are my wounds?"

"You won't be able to walk for a while; your ankle is pretty bad." I summarized, looking to the place her ankle was resting. "The rest of the scratches should heal at a normal pace otherwise." I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turning my head to see Thorne staring at the woman over my shoulder made me seethe slightly.

"What about your pet? Will he try to eat me?" Eliza seemed skeptical about being close to an infected.

"He's not my pet." I bit out roughly. "He is a companion, a friend." I narrowed my eyes at the woman. "If you think about shooting him or any other kind of harm to him, I won't hesitate to do the same to you." I warned, and she looked taken back.

"Eeellliiiizzaaa?" Thorne questioned the woman, his strange eyes looking at her with a slight pleading in them.

"Did that thing just say my name?" She looked disgusted with the fact that he did say her name.

"You don't even recognize him do you?" I reached into my back pocket and pulled out Thorne's tattered wallet, tossing it to the woman. "Maybe this will jog your memory." With that I left the room to have some time to myself. I walked back into the kitchen and took a seat at the table, crossing my arms on the hard surface before resting my head on them.

I had to get this jealousy out of my system somehow. I knew these two were together before the infection and it just hurt knowing they could be together now. My heart was pounding and my mind was racing with doubts and hopes and other nonsense. One of the thoughts was wishing I had never met Thorne, never started to fall for him. Just thinking about not having him at my side made my heart ache, so much so that I couldn't control my breathing correctly. I needed to get out of the house.

Grabbing my naginata, I made my way to the door before calling out, "I'm going out for a little bit!" With that I walked out the door and into the outside world. I looked to the burning pile and saw it was still smoldering and decided to keep away from it. Walking over toward the field beside the house, I wondered if maybe we should scavenge some things from the other houses. I decided to make a swift turn to my left and walk toward the house on the opposite side of the street.

Slowly, I crossed the street and walked up the stairs to the front door. Finding the door unlocked made me think that no one was there, that they had left when the whole zombie thing started. This house belonged to a small family, two parents two kids. The only thing they were missing was a white picket fence to make it the perfect little family home.

I rolled my eyes at the thoughts and continued into the house. It was slightly dark as I looked around their living room/dining room area. There were a few clothes and other miscellaneous things thrown around like they tried to leave in a hurry. As I walked toward the kitchen a dark spot on the floor caught my eyes. I looked around swiftly before kneeling to look at the spot. It was deep red in color and led across the kitchen floor into a small bathroom.

Standing back up, I silently made my way toward the bathroom to investigate. The door was ajar but I couldn't see much from where I was standing. I quickly opened the door and looked in, my eyes wide. I quickly closed the door again and held in my surprise. The younger of the two children was dead on the floor, bites taken out of the flesh. That meant that the infected were here too, somewhere.

The sound of shuffling feet interrupted my thoughts as I stayed as silent as possible. A groan followed the footsteps and I knew that the infected had not moved on, it was still in the house. I held my naginata closer to my body, getting myself ready to attack it. I admit it's been a while since I had faced any kind of infected on my own and I was nervous about it. The shuffling sound stopped and I held my breath, searching the dark for a figure.

I spotted the figure lingering in the hall that led back to where I'm guessing the bedrooms were. The infected seemed small, so it was probably the older sibling and not the parents. I cringed at the thought of a child being infected, since what my mom had told me happened to my niece. Silently as I could be, I made my way toward the infected.

It heard me as I stepped on a creaky board. It turned my direction and groaned again before starting to shamble its way in my direction. I braced the naginata in my grasp and dashed forward. I averted my eyes as the blade made contact with flesh, hearing a groan of pain escape the infected before it growled in anger, reaching toward me.

I thought quickly and used one of my feet to kick the corpse from the blade and bringing the weapon in contact with its head. A sickening crack and squishing sound reached my ears as I pulled the blade away again. I made sure the infected was dead and rushed out of the house. I ran back toward my own house and once I was in the drive way I took a deep breath.

I knew there was a blood splatter on me and on the blade but I didn't even worry about it. Looking back toward the other house once more, I shook my head. I was stupid to go in there without someone to watch my back. If I hadn't heard the infected I could have become its next meal. It made me sick to my stomach to think about.

"Rrrraaavveeii!" Thorne jumped from the roof to land in front of me before standing to his full height and looking me over. He placed his palms on my cheeks and looked me in the eye, asking the silent question if I was alright.

"I'm fine, just found a random infected in the house across the street." I said truthfully. He then wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, sighing.

"Daon't sca…are… liiiikkkeee… aggggaaainnn." He mumbled holding me tighter. 'Don't scare me like that again.' I figured and shook my head.

"I'll try not to." I wrapped my free arm around him, the other holding my weapon. Here he was, worried about me and his fiancée was in the house probably waiting for him to come back. I smiled sadly at the thought. "How is Eliza doing?" I heard a soft growl come from him and looked up to see his gaze harden.

"Bit….ching." He muttered, staring out into the field. I started laughing at his wording and rested my head on his shoulder, but kept my eyes turned in his direction. Thorne looked down at me with a questioning look in his gaze.

"Never thought I'd hear that word come out of your mouth." I said through a few chuckles. He must have seen the humor in it as well for he seemed to laugh softly as well. "Let's get inside and get something to eat, I feel like I haven't had anything in days." With that he released me from his hold and we walked back into the house together.

A/N: Hello hello my lovelies =) I know it's been a while since the last chapter but it was sooner than the last break! So yay for that! Two months I think? Maybe a little over? Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to leave a review if you liked it, and maybe you'll get a hug from Thorne!


	20. Chapter 20 Talk and Nightmares

Chapter 20- Talk and Nightmares

When we had gotten back into the house, my mom basically scolded me for running off and fussed over me for having blood all over my person. So I cleaned myself up and put on some different clothes. Just an oversized tee shirt and a pair of baggy shorts suited me just fine while hanging around the house. After that Genn and I made a simple stew that would be easy for everyone to swallow.

My mom took stew into our guest while I sat at the table with Thorne, trying to get him to use a spoon instead of just sticking his face into the hot liquid like he wanted to. His claws made it slightly hard for him to grasp the spoon and he growled softly at the piece of metal, which made me chuckle. He glared in my direction and I could tell he was ready to throw the spoon across the room.

"Try holding it like this." I used my own spoon as an example as I gripped it with my fist. I then dipped the spoon into the stew and brought it to my lips. He watched carefully then did the same, his hand shaking slightly as he lifted his spoon full to his mouth before devouring it. His eyes lit up in happiness as he continued to shovel the stew into his maw.

I smiled at the hunter before eating my own bowl at a slower place. Genn walked back into the kitchen with an empty bowl, placing it in the sink before getting herself some stew for herself and sitting on my other side. She sighed as she took a bite of the home made concoction.

"What's up momma?" I set the spoon down and looked over to the older woman.

"I'm having second thoughts about having brought that girl back here." She also set her spoon down, looking down at her hands. "She seems to do nothing but complain about everything. She was even hoping that you would have not come back after you went out."

"What?" I couldn't believe what she was saying.

"Bit…tch." Thorne spoke up, a dangerous look in his pale eyes.

"Was she like this before the infection too?" I looked over at the hunter with an eyebrow raised. He nodded and the dangerous glare was still there as if he was thinking about something. "We can finish discussing this later." Picking up my spoon, I finished with my meal and put the bowl in the sink. I then walked into the living room to check up on our guest.

"How's your leg feeling?" I nonchalantly took a seat on the coffee table and looked at the woman.

"Hurts like hell, kinda feels like it was run over by a truck." She responded, not looking at me.

"That's expected, the bone was sticking through the skin when you were brought in." Seeing her wince made me inwardly smirk. "Hopefully we set it back just in time so there won't be too much damage done to it."

"Hopefully." Eliza muttered, still not looking at me. "So how did your escapade out into the world go?" She seemed bored, but asked the question anyway.

"Well, I wanted to see if we could find any kind of supplies in the houses and found an infected." I shook my head, noticing that she finally looked my way.

"Those things are nothing but trouble. At least you didn't have to deal with your family in law turning on you and your fiancée left you alone at the altar." Her eyes narrowed slightly at me. So they were getting married but Thorne never showed up to the wedding. I put two and two together and sighed.

"He didn't mean to not show up. The infection just hit a little too soon for you two to be married." I shrugged my shoulders and she glared at me.

"You wouldn't fucking know." She turned from me then.

"I'm at least trying to understand." I stood up and walked back toward the kitchen only to see Thorne staring slightly as he sat in the room that joined the living room. My guess was that he heard everything. I bit my lip as I looked at him, his eyes just staring off into space. "Thorne?" He looked to me but his eyes were slightly glazed over.

He had indirectly found out that his family had turned. I felt slight rage growing inside of me, knowing that he was probably hurting from the news. Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down and knelt beside the hunter, resting my hand on top of his. He kept his eyes on me before leaning down and laying his head on both our hands.

I lifted my other hand and ran it through his hair a few times before resting my head against his own. Somehow I knew this was bringing my companion some sort of comfort. I wanted to comfort him for the loss of his family like he had when I found out about mine. He lifted his head and smiled softly at me before nuzzling my face with his nose. I chuckled quietly and smiled back at him. "You're welcome." I whispered, squeezing his hand and standing.

I walked back into the kitchen, seeing Genn cleaning the dishes. She looked over at me before going back to her work. "So what happened when you talked to her?" Her voice was low, almost like she was trying to hide what she was saying about Eliza.

"Apparently she was waiting at the altar for Thorne when his family turned and started attacking the wedding party." I sat down at the table again and rubbed my temples. "He basically heard it from her mouth and was upset."

"Wait, so before all of this, Thorne and Eliza were… engaged?" I could tell her eyebrow was raised in question.

"Yeah, that's why I threw the wallet at her before leaving. It was Thorne's wallet and I guess she was too stubborn to recognize that it was him right off the bat." I looked up at the clock above the door way, which read six thirty-five. Standing from the table, I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

"Are you going to take a bath?" Genn semi yelled so I could hear her.

"Yes!" I called back before turning on the water. I made sure it was the perfect temperature for me before putting in the stopper. I pulled out a towel from the closet, along with a bottle of bubble bath. I poured some of the sweet smelling liquid into the water and it started to foam immediately. I tossed off the clothes I was wearing and gently eased myself into the water, letting out a content sigh as I relaxed.

Slowly, I removed the bandages from around my shoulder to stare at the bite mark I had. I was glad I was immune to the infection; else I would have turned by now and not have gotten back to my mom. I didn't know what she would have done if I was gone and I didn't want to think about it. I lifted my leg from the water to turn the faucet off with my toes since the tub was mostly full at this point. As I relaxed the leg back into the water, I closed my eyes and sighed in happiness.

I let my thoughts run rampant again, feeling whatever aches and pains I had in my body wash away into the warm water. Chuckling at myself, I piled some of the bubbles up on my face, making a bubble beard. I hadn't done anything like this since I was younger, so it made me smile at simpler times. I felt my eyes drooping and soon I was in a fitful sleep.

~~~~~Thorne~~~~

The hunter looked toward the bathroom door, wondering what was taking Ravei so long to get out of her bath. He was fidgeting while tapping his claws against the kitchen table. He didn't feel right without her in his sights; he was extremely worried when she ran off earlier to wherever she went. Taking in a deep breath, he turned his gaze from the door to look around the kitchen.

Nothing was really different in the room, except for the pot on the stove that wasn't there before, due to the two able women cooking food. The smell of the food was also lingering in the air, making him have to swallow extra saliva to keep it from running out of his mouth. The food had been amazing, both to smell and to devour; he couldn't wait to have more.

He looked to his left as the older woman, Genn, came from the living room after talking with Eliza. He tilted his head in question to her, to which she looked at him and shook her head. Apparently the younger woman wasn't being very cooperative about anything they were asking her.

"I don't know what's wrong with that girl." Genn spoke as she sat down at the table after getting herself a cup of coffee. "She was like this before the infection as well?" He nodded to her question. "You seem like you were too nice of a boy to have wanted to marry… that." She had a soft smile on her face as she stared down into her coffee. "I kind of wish you would have met my Ravei before this, maybe you could have proposed to her instead." There was a devilish gleam in the older woman's gaze.

Thorne felt heat bloom in his cheeks, something he hadn't felt in a while, at the woman's words. He avoided her gaze as he thought about it. Ravei was kind and didn't really judge people from what he had seen. Maybe she would have been a good choice to marry. If only times were that simple. He shook his head but smiled a toothy smile at the older woman across from him.

"She's been in there a long time…" Genn looks to the clock, taking a sip of her coffee. "Must be nice having a hot bath." The hunter nodded in agreement, though he didn't like water as much as he used to.

"THORNE!" The voice came from the bathroom, making both the hunter and Genn stand quickly from the table. He quickly launched himself from his spot and pushed open the door to the bathroom. "Stop! No Thorne! Don't!" Ravei cried out, water sloshing from the bath and spilling onto the floor. Her mother ran into the bathroom after the hunter to examine her daughter, only to find the girl's eyes closed.

"She's having a nightmare." Genn stated and gently shook the girl. "Ravei, wake up, come on now wake up." Her voice was soft, trying to call the girl out of her slumber. After a few more violent screams, the girl finally sat up, breathing heavily.

~~~~Ravei~~~~

I woke from my sleep feeling extremely wet, probably from sweat due to the dream I just had to endure. I looked down at my hands and saw they were underwater; I had forgotten that I was in the bath tub, trying to take a bath. Taking my gaze from my hands, I looked over at the person sitting beside me. My mom had a sad smile on her face as she watched me with careful brown eyes.

"What happened? Where's Thorne." I asked her, only seconds later seeing the hunter peeking around the corner of the wall behind the tub. I quickly, but carefully, pulled myself from the tub and launched myself at the unsuspecting hunter. He yelped in surprise but caught me as I threw my arms around him. I buried my head into his chest and let out a few sobs. "You're alright!" I cried out.

Thorne wrapped his arms around me, avoiding scratching me with his sharp claws. I was just so happy that he was still here, still with me. That dream, no the nightmare was just terrible. We were trapped between a group of survivors and a group of infected. The infected were calling to him to come to them, while the survivors were calling for me to go to them.

I could not go to either of them, I was happy being in the middle with just me and the hunter I cared so much for. I had started to move toward the survivor group, and Thorne moved with me because he didn't want to leave me. The infected attacked after he made that move. As they attacked the survivor group started to shoot their counterparts on the other side of the field.

He had pushed me down to stay out of the cross fire; bullets were whizzing over my head, and blood was splattering onto me. Thorne was attacking the infected along with the survivors trying to keep them away. I could hear him call out in pain every now and then, making me wince but not look up from my fetal position on the ground.

When the gunfire had stopped, there was ragged, heavy breathing walking my way. I heard the guns click one more time as I looked up. Thorne was standing above me, scratched, bloody and riddled with bullets. My eyes grew wide as he knelt down before me, holding out his clawed hand. I reached out for it but was hesitant as one last shot boomed out into the air. Buck shot scattered into the hunter's chest making some blood splatter out of his back.

His eyes grew dim as he still looked at me, but then he started to fall over. I moved to his side and let him fall onto me. His breathing was ragged, and his movements were slow and jerky. He reached his hand up to me and placed it on my face, gently stroking away the wetness that had started to make its way down my cheeks. My hunter was dying in my arms, and there was nothing I could do about it. He smiled up at me with sad eyes, still trying to wipe my tears away with a shaky hand.

I watched as he tried to speak, but coughed up blood instead. The liquid dribbled from the corners of his mouth but the smile was still on his lips. I heard another click and turned to see one of the survivors, though they were pitch black and I could not see who it was. A pistol was pointed toward the head of the hunter I was holding in my arms. "NO!" I shouted before the trigger was pulled. That was when I woke up.

If it were possible I held Thorne closer to me. I didn't want to let him go out of fear that this was also a sick, twisted dream and the dream was the reality. The fact that I was standing in the bathroom was the only factor that made me realize that it wasn't a dream. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see my mom holding out my towel to me. Gasping, I remembered that I had just crawled out of the bath and flung myself at the hunter I thought was hurt.

I took the towel from my mom and quickly wrapped it around myself. She seemed to laugh softly at me, which made heat rise to my cheeks. I had basically thrown my naked self at Thorne and hadn't even thought about covering myself up. Turning back to said person, I noticed that with my hug I had gotten what water was on me all over him.

"Sorry." I muttered, still full with embarrassment. He seemed to chuckle before walking out of the room after making sure that I was alright. I sat back down on the edge of the tub and released the stopper, hearing a gurgle as the water started to be sucked down into the pipes. My mom lowered the lid of the toilet and took a seat on it, looking me over with slight worry in her gaze.

"You dreamed that he died didn't you?" She asked out of the blue. I looked up at her with wide eyes and she nodded. "Thought so; the way you were screaming out for him was a dead giveaway. No pun intended."

"It was terrible, momma." I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned my head into my palms. "He died in my arms, shot right in the head by a survivor." An involuntary shudder wracked my body. "I don't want that to happen." Genn rested a hand on my arm and I took her hand in one of mine.

"If it's up to either of us, we won't let that happen." She smiled. "He's a good kid, even if he is one of them." She chuckled softly, as if remembering something she had said earlier. "I told him if he had met you before he met what's-her-face out there, that he should have proposed to you." I felt myself blush again and she only laughed. "I'll let you get changed now." With that she took her hand from mine and left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

I shivered slightly as I thought about what she had said. What would it have been like to have someone that you cared about so much that you asked them to marry you? I laughed softly at the idea, not like it could happen now anyway, not with all the rabid zombies running around. I changed back into my previous clothes after drying myself thoroughly and quickly exited the bathroom to head up the stairs to my room.

Once upstairs, I flung myself onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling. I didn't really want to fall back to sleep after that dream, so I just let my thoughts wander some more. I heard a voice downstairs and listened carefully. "You want some more of that stew already?" Genn's voice wafted up the stairs. "Alright, alright! Don't give me that puppy-dog look!" There was laughter in her voice as she spoke with the hunter, who I assumed was still hungry. I laughed to myself before closing my eyes and letting the calmness of being home and having some kind of banter in the house overtake me.

A/N- Well there's chapter 20! For those who reviewed the last chapter… Oh where is he? *Ravlia drags the reluctant hunter from a different room, a childish pout on his face.* Go on give them hugs! *Thorne reluctantly walks up to the reviewers and hugs them.* There you go! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! What will be next on the agenda in this land of the dead? Only I shall know… Muahahahaha! *Thorne hits Ravlia over the head with a pillow, bowing his head in apology to all the masses that have to deal with her insanity.* So, until next time! Feel free to review again and have a great day!


End file.
